The Fine Points 

of 

Auction Bridge 

Together with 
An Exposition of 

The New Count 



Florence irwin 



The Fine Points 

of 

Auction Bridge 

Together with an Exposition of 

The New Count 

By 

Florence Irwin 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 
New York and London 

XLbc Iknfcfterbocftcr iptcss 
1912 



ci:^' 



Copyright, 1912 

BY 

FLORENCE IRWIN 



TCbe iftnfcfterbocfter prcBs, flew Korft 

gCLA314305 



PREFACE 

Although it may seem, to the casual reader, 
that there are already enough Bridge books and 
Auction books on the market, the real Auction 
devotee knows that no two books are ever alike, 
and that the last word on the subject is never 
said. 

Moreover, the game has undergone such won- 
derftd developments in the past year that it 
was necessary that some record of them should 
be made. 

After the publication of certain portions of 
this little volimie in serial form, the demand for 
them in book form was so great that I feel 
justified in adding one more to the list of Auction 
books, without further apology. 

I have made it my chief aim to put before my 
readers all the various schools of bid and play, 
with their strong points and their flaws. It is 
not enough to know only one point of view — 
even though you may consider it the best. 
Any book will tell you what the author himself 
thinks on the subject. I have tried to present 
iii 



iv Preface 

the opinions and theories of the vaxious con- 
tending authorities. 

And, last but not least, I have the good for- 
tune to be just in time to explain the New CounL 
This latest development of the game has sprung 
into immediate and universal popularity, and 
is sweeping the country like wildfire. It has 
given to Auction its one lacking touch — a perfect 
balance between red suits and black, — and has 
made it as nearly perfect a bidding-game as it 
is possible to conceive. 



F. I. 



Hastings-on-Hudson, 
March, 1912. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Fine Points of Auction Bridge. . . i 

The Deal 3 

The Score 4 

Encouragement and Discouragement . . 10 

The Book 12 

The Phraseology . . . . . . 13 

The Opening Bid 15 

Subsequent Bids 26 

The Double 54 

Keeping the Flag Flying 70 

The Play ^2 

Hints 80 

A Warning against Overbidding . . .85 

Raising Your Partner's Bid .... 88 

Losing Rubbers 92 

Brilliancy versus Solidity .... 95 

V 



vi Contents 

PAGE 

A Condensed List OF Bridge Leads ... 97 
In Any Declared Trump .... 97 

In No-Trump 99 

The New Count loi 

Test Hands . . . . . . .111 

Test Hand No. I 113 

Test Hand No. 2 . . . . . .117 

Test Hand No. 3 118 

Test Hand No. 4 . . . . . . 121 

Test Hand No. 5 . . . . . .123 

Test Hand No. 6 127 

Test Hand No. 7 129 

Test Hand No. 8 . . . . . .130 

Test Hand No. 9 . . . . . .133 

Test Hand No. id 136 

Test Hand No. i i 139 

Test Hand No. 12 . . . . . . 140 

Test Hand No. 13 141 

Test Hand No. 14 143 

Test Hand No. 15 . . . . . .145 

Test Hand No. 16 148 



Contents vii 

PAGE 

Compass Auction, Team Auction, and Tour- 
nament Auction 152 

The Laws of Auction Bridge .... 164 

The Revoke .169 

Other Penalties , , • , , • 171 



The Fine Points of 
Auction Bridge 



There are many persons who have some 
knowledge of Auction Bridge, but who are 
perfectly conscious that their game needs im- 
proving. It is for their use that this book is 
intended. Its object is to show the practical 
workings of the game; to give a few terse rules 
to cover the situations that are constantly 
arising; to answer the questions that seem still 
to be asked, after the reading of other books on 
the same subject; to describe the various 
"schools" of play adopted by contending au- 
thorities (thus making it necessary to read one 
book only, instead of six or eight) ; and, in short, 
to bridge the chasm that yawns between fair 
Auction and excellent Auction. 

In the first place, let no one frighten you into 
believing that Auction is a very difficult game. 
It is not. To the Bridge player of average skill 
I 



S Fine Points of Auction 

and intelligence, it should present no great 
obstacles. But it is subtle to the last degree; 
subtle to a point that the ordinary player does 
not suspect. 

Take, for instance, a situation that often 
arises : your side and the other side have one game 
each on the rubber, but they are far ahead of you 
in penalties. You open your hand and find 
a perfectly good no-trumper, and you get the 
bid at " two no-trumps, " realizing that you can 
easily make three tricks and go game and rubber. 

But the adversaries are so far ahead (in 
penalties) that you do not dare to take rubber 
unless you can do it on a grand slam, which 
would put your total a little ahead of theirs. 
In other words, you may take eight tricks or 
you may take thirteen, but nothing in between 
— not nine, nor ten, nor eleven, nor twelve. 

It becomes necessary to do all your finessing 
in the very beginning, to locate the high cards 
which you fail to hold, and to decide definitely 
which you will take, your eight tricks or your 
thirteen. 

Could any situation be more delicate or call 
for more dexterous handling? Plain Bridge 
could offer nothing to match it. 

In the second place, never forget that Auction 
is an o/fensive, not a ci^efensive game. By this 



The Deal 3 

I do not mean that you should always try to 
capture the bid and play the hand. That is the 
most rudimentary of errors, and players of that 
description resemble nothing so much as a 
quartette of silly children quarrelling for the 
possession of a ball. But I do mean that the 
timid and hesitating player, the one who is 
afraid to take long chances at a critical moment, 
is the one who is left far behind the procession. 
It is necessary to fight every minute of the time. 

The Deal 

The deal in Auction goes around the table 
regularly, just as in plain Bridge, but the play 
of the hand may be anywhere, i. e., the hand may 
be played by the dealer, his partner, or either 
of his adversaries; whoever makes the final bid 
plays the hand. This sometimes makes con- 
fusion in the next deal ; every one can remember 
who played the last hand, but not who dealt it. 

This trouble should be obviated by the 
position of the "still" pack (the pack of cards 
not in use) . 

When the dealer is dealing, his partner should 
"make" the still pack and put it down at his 
own right hand. It would be bad form to reach 
across the adversary who is to deal next and 



4 Fine Points of Auction 

place it at his right hand. So it is placed on the 
right hand of the maker, and when it becomes 
time for a new deal, the player who finds the 
still pack at his left hand is the new dealer. 
He should pick up the pack, pass it to the pre- 
vious dealer — i. e. the player on his right — to 
cut, and should then proceed to deal, while his 
partner "makes" the other pack and lays it at 
his own right hand. 

The still pack should never be trifled with, 
never touched except for the business of the 
game. Strict attention to this detail will 
obviate all trouble as to the deal, and will do 
away with stupid questions, such as, "Whose 
deal is it?" "You dealt last, didn't you?" 
and so forth. The game will progress smoothly, 
and one of the marks which distinguish good 
Auction from "ragged" Auction will be ob- 
literated. 

The Score 

No one can score below the line except the 
side that plays the hand. The opposition can 
score above the line only, in penalties and 
honors. 

There is no score below the line unless the 
player who gets the bid makes all that he bid, 



"TKe Score 5 

or more. If he fails to do this, the adversaries 
score above the line, fifty for every trick which 
the player bid but failed to make. If there has 
been doubling, this fifty is raised to a hundred; 
if redoubling, to two hundred. 

If you underbid your hand, you can score all 
that you make over your bid; if you overbid it, 
you can score nothing, not even what you take. 

The adversaries take fifty above the line for 
every trick that you bid and fail to take. For 
instance, if you get the bid at "three hearts," 
it means that you have contracted to take the 
book and three odd in hearts — nine tricks in 
all. If you take four odd, or five, or a grand 
slam, you can count them all, at their ordinary 
value of eight a trick. But there is no "bonus, " 
no reward of any kind for keeping your contract, 
or for exceeding it (except the value of the 
extra tricks themselves) , unless the bid has been 
doubled. 

If you announce your ability to take "three 
hearts," and every one thinks you probably 
can, there is no credit to you in taking them and 
taking more. But if the adversary thinks you 
cannot, and announces this by doubling, and 
if, on top of this, you prove that you can, then 
you get your tricks at a doubled value (sixteen 
apiece), and you also get a "bonus" of fifty 



6 Fine Points of Axjction 

above the line as a reward for keeping your 
contract in spite of his double. And if you make 
any tricks over your contract, each one is worth 
its doubled value below the line, and an extra 
fifty above. 

For instance, you bid "three hearts"; you 
are doubled and yet succeed in taking five hearts 
{i. e., eleven tricks in all). They are worth i6 
apiece below the line (80), you get a bonus of 
50 above the line for the mere keeping of your 
contract in spite of a double, and you also get 
50 above the line for each of the two tricks you 
took in excess of your contract, — making a total 
of 80 points below the line and 150 above, plus 
your honors. If you redouble, your tricks are 
raised to 32 apiece, your bonus to 100, and the 
value of each extra trick to 100. 

Doubling stops at redoubling — that is, each 
side is allowed one double and no more. And 
there can he no bonus when there has been no 
doubling. 

If, on the other hand, you overbid your hand, 
you can score nothing, — not even the tricks that 
you take. If you bid "three hearts" and take 
two hearts {i.e., eight tricks), you have failed 
in your contract and can score nothing; and the 
opposition scores 50 for the trick that you bid 
and failed to take. If they have doubled you, 



TTHe Score 7 

they get lOO; if you have redoubled, they get 
200. Fifty, or loo, or 200, for each trick for 
which you contracted and failed to take, hut 
all above the line. And you can score nothing 
except for any honors you may chance to hold. 

Bear in mind the fact that, while there is 
^'rank" below the line, there is none above. 
By "rank" I mean that the suits differ in value, 
■ — hearts are worth 8, no-trump 12, diamonds 6, 
and so forth. But every trick that you lose gives 
your adversary 50, regardless of suit. He gets 
just as much if you lose a spade as if you lose a 
no-trump. That is why it is so foolish ever to 
make a risky black bid; it is worth so little to 
you if you make it (2 or 4 a trick), and the 
same old 50 to your adversaries if they defeat 
you. And it is equally foolish to take the 
adversary out of a high black bid, unless his 
bid would put him game. If he wants to work 
so hard for so little, let him do it. If he should 
declare two or three in spades or clubs and you 
hold a no-trump hand, don't declare your no- 
trump, use it to defeat him. With such strong 
cards against him he certainly cannot take 8 or 
9 tricks, and you will get 50 a trick, instead of 
12, with much less work. 

Play for the Grand Total — i. e., the sum of the 
points above and below the line. 



8 Fine Points of Aviction 

When Auction first appeared, every one's 
advice was to play conservatively for the game 
below the line, just as we had always done in 
Bridge. Now we have changed all that, for play- 
ers have come to realize that it is the penalties 
that count, the penalties (doubled or un doubled) 
that distinguish the score from that of ordinary 
Bridge, and that bring home the winnings. 

I do not mean to belittle the rubber ; but the 
fact remains that its value of 250 is but two and 
a half times the value of the Bridge rubber, while 
there is no estimating what one may win, at 
Auction, in penalties above the line. 

If I could impress permanently on my readers 
the value of these points above the line, I should 
be well on my way towards grounding them in 
one of the first essentials of good Auction. If you 
*'set" the adversary for one trick (undoubled), 
it seems very slight to you for "it is only fifty 
above the line!" 

Only Fifty I Do you realize that fifty is more 
than four no-trump tricks are worth? And who 
is there who does not feel some slight elation 
in bringing home four tricks in no-trump? And, 
if the trick you steal from the adversary has been 
doubled, your winnings of 100 points are greater 
than the value of eight tricks in no-trump — • 
greater than a no-trump grand slam!! 



XHe Score 9 

I beg you to digest this point and never to 
fail to appreciate your fifty, or your hundred, 
simply because it is above the line. Take all 
the penalties you can get, "set" the adversaries 
for tricks, doubled or undoubled, whenever the 
chance comes your way, and you can often 
afford to look with pitying eyes, and from the 
height of a superior score, on the winners of the 
rubbers. 

As a rule, do not be too anxious to play the 
hands in the beginning of a rubber. Of course, 
if you have a very good declaration, make it 
and play the hand — particularly if you can go 
game, or keep the adversary from going game. 
But when you are not dealer and are not forced 
to bid, use your good hands to defeat the make, 
in the beginning of a rubber. If you can pile 
up 300 or 400 in penalties, the ultimate result 
of the rubber need have no terrors for you; if 
you win it, well and good, for it will be a big 
one; if you lose it, your points above the line 
will offset the 250 and leave you even with the 
game. To sum up, then, generally try to "set'' 
the adversary in the beginning of a rubber, and to 
play the hands toward the end of it. 



Encouragement and Discouragement 

Encouragement and discouragement signals 
are exactly the same in Auction as in plain 
Bridge; but, unfortunately, they are far too 
little understood and practised. Every seven, or 
card higher than seven, should mean encourage- 
ment on the first round of a suit; every card under 
seven should mean discouragement. In a trump 
make, if your partner leads an ace and you hold 
the king of that suit, you should play a seven or 
higher on his ace ; that will say to him : " I have 
the king; come on!" To play under seven, 
signifies that you do not hold the king. In 
no-trump, if your partner should lead a king, 
it would mean that he held a seven-card suit 
or a three-honor suit; now if you should hold 
the queen of that suit and two or three small, 
your duty would be to throw your queen on to 
his king, in order to unblock. But if you hold 
five or more cards headed by the queen, your 
suit may be longer than his and you may want 
your queen for re-entry; then you must give 
him an '* encouragement-card" (seven or higher) 



Eln- and Dis-co\iragement 1 1 

on his king, to show that the queen is in your 
hand. 

This division of the cards, from seven up and 
down, makes also the most faultless discard. 
Whether you discard from weakness or from 
strength, there are times when it is awkward; 
the weak discard is often too vague ; the strength 
discard will occasionally lose you a trick. But 
if you adopt a system by which seven or higher 
means strength in that suit, and anything under 
seven means weakness, your troubles will be at 
an end. For if the strong discard will cripple 
your suit, you can throw a low card from a 
weak suit; if it should be necessary to show 
strength with one discard, a seven or higher 
will do it. This may seem a little complicated 
at first, but a few trials will accustom you to 
it and convince you of its excellence. 

Another signal that is too little understood 
is the one-card echo at no-trump. If the make 
be no-trump and your partner leads a small 
card, and if Dummy plays a card that you can- 
not cover, you should play your next-to -highest 
card, so that your partner may read his suit. 
For instance, your partner leads a six of hearts 
from a combination headed by the ace, the 
king, or both ; Dummy plays the queen and you 
hold jack- ten and two small. You must play 



12 Fine Points of Auction 

your ten, not one of your small cards. Then 
your partner will know that you have one card 
higher than the ten ; he will see the queen on the 
board, and the ace-king in his own hand, and he 
will immediately credit you with the jack and 
be able to place all the high cards in his suit. 
This one-card echo in no-trump is invaluable; 
but it is so rarely found, even among good players, 
that when you come across a partner who uses 
i^., you feel you have struck a veritable gold- 
mine. 

The Book 

The hook is always six tricks for the player, and 
he must take as many over it as his bid calls for 
— one, two, three, or whatever he may have bid. 
The book for the opposition (the adversaries) is 
always the difference between the bid and seven. 
If the player bids "three hearts," the adver- 
saries' book closes at four tricks (three from seven 
leaves four) , and every trick that they may take 
over that counts them fifty undoubled or a 
hundred doubled — above the line, of course. 
If the bid is five, the adversaries' book is two; 
if the bid is one, the adversaries' book is six, 
the same as the player's. In other words, the 
adversaries' book is all that the player dares 



THe PKraseology 13 

let them take. If he bids two on anything, he 
contracts for eight tricks — the book (6), and 
two more. Eight from thirteen leaves five, so 
five is all that he dares let the adversary take; 
it is therefore their book, and anything over 
five will count fifty for them and keep the player 
from scoring at all. If the player bids one, the 
adversaries' book is six; if two, their book is 
five; if three, their book is four, and so on. The 
adversaries should always close their hook when it 
is complete (whether it be two, three, four, or 
five tricks) and keep the counting tricks outside 
it. 

The Phraseology 

To take tricks that the player has bid is to 
"set" him. You "set" him for two, three, or 
four tricks, as the case may be. 

In making a bid, never use an unnecessary 
word. Clip your bid of all excrescences till 
it stands as light and as clean as a race-horse. 
The one drawback to Auction is that it is neces- 
sarily some little time before the bidding is over 
and you settle down to the business of the play. 
Make that time as short as possible by the 
promptness and the brevity of your bid. Say 
"a spade" or "one spade," 



14 Fine Points of Auction 

no-trump," "two diamonds," — but never, 
"Well, I think I will try a diamond." And 
never, "one in diamonds," or "one on dia- 
monds"; never use a preposition at all, simply 
name the number of tricks in your bid and the 
suit in which you bid them. Make your bid 
clearly and distinctly. Any one who fails to un- 
derstand the bid may ask to have it repeated at 
the time, but never after it is once covered. And 
when the final bid is allowed to stand, and three 
players have passed in succession, no one may ask 
information as to any previous hid. The final bid, 
however, may be asked at any stage of the game. 
As the bid goes round, each player follows this 
rule of bidding in as few words as possible, unless 
he does not wish to bid, in which case he says 
"No," "By," or — if he vdshes to use the term 
"pass" — he repeats the previous bid, as: 
"Pass two diamonds." The word "pass" is 
often mistaken for "hearts" and should there- 
fore never be used alone; if the bid preceding 
yours is "a diamond," and you do not wish to 
bid, you say "By," " No, " or " Pass a diamond. " 
And remember that every bid must be made 
audibly. Some players have a habit of striking 
the table with their fingers to show that they 
pass. This is contrary to rule, and gives too 
much chance for a system of rap-signalling. 



The Opening Bid 

The dealer is forced to open the bidding. 
Any one else may pass, but he may not. His 
is the "forced bid," all others are the "free 
bids." Remember that the bidding on the 
first round is rarely final. It is merely a " show- 
up" of high cards. Get away from the old 
Bridge idea that your first chance is your last. 
You may come to change your bid entirely, on 
later rounds; it frequently happens that you 
do. But to hid on a suit on the first round should 
show that you hold the ace, the king, or possibly 
the queen of that suit, — never that your suit is 
headed by anything lower than a queen. Sub- 
sequent rounds may bring different bids, but to 
make a suit bid on the first round should mean 
that, and that alone. To open the bidding with 
"a diamond" does not necessarily mean that 
you have a strong diamond hand or that you 
want to play it as diamonds; but it does mean 
that you positively hold the ace, the king, or 
the queen of diamonds and can take one trick 
15 



i6 Fine Points of Auction 

in that suit. You may have a perfectly sound 
diamond make; if you have, it will come out in 
the later bidding. But your opening bid does 
not necessarily mean that; it is not the make, 
but the hid for the make — the "show-up, " — and 
it tells your partner that you have one of the 
three high cards in that suit and can stop it at 
no-trump. 

Never bid on a jack-suit or a ten-suit on the 
first round. It is too misleading to your part- 
ner. While six or seven hearts headed by the 
jack or ten was a perfectly good heart make 
in plain Bridge, it is not a good heart hid in 
Auction. Grasp at once the difference between 
the bid and the make. Even in Auction it 
will sometimes happen that you will make hearts 
on seven to the jack, but it will always be 
on a later round and in the light of information 
received on the first round of bids. Also, it 
will not mislead your partner on a later round, 
as it certainly would on the opening one. You 
have a better club bid holding the ace and two 
little spots, than you have holding six or seven 
to the jack or ten. Remember that Auction 
is a game of no-trump, and it is your business to 
show your partner what high cards you hold. 
Remember, too, that it is a game of strength 
rather than length — a game of aces and kings. 



XHe Opening Bid 17 

If you, being dealer, pick up your cards and 
find you have a no-trump hand, my advice to 
you is to bid "a no-trump." Of course, there 
are many excellent players who bid "a spade" 
on every no-trump hand, and of them I shall 
speak later. Of course, too, they have excellent 
arguments in favor of their system, all of which 
it will be my business to explain to you and to 
refute with arguments which I consider still 
better. For, of course, (in the third place), 
it is the business of every Auction player to 
master all the various systems and to under- 
stand them when he sees them in his adver- 
saries, even though they are diametrically op- 
posed to the one that he chooses to play. The 
best Auction player is the one who best understands, 
the various schools of bidding, but sticks to his 
own for play. There are those who insist that 
you must vary the meaning of your bid, in 
order to mystify the adversary. What about 
your partner? Are you to leave him floundering ? 
And that is what will happen unless you are 
permitted to establish a system of kicks under 
the table. For if you attempt to bewilder the 
adversary by any set system of bids, he will 
understand it as well as your partner; and if 
you attempt it by sudden wild flights into the 
unexpected, your partner will be as much at 



i8 Fine Points of Auction 

sea as he. While nothing is worse than a 
"wooden" player, with a stiff set of rules that 
can never be broken, / still hold that it is far 
more necessary to give information to your partner 
than to withhold it from the adversary. 

You, then, being dealer, look first for no- 
trump when you pick up your hand. Auction 
is a game of no-trump ; it is the declaration that 
every one wants for himself. Why, then, hesi- 
tate to make it, if you hold the material? There 
are many reasons for the opening no-trump 
declaration : in the first place, there will often be, 
on the same deal, two hands either of which 
could bid ''one no-trump," but neither of which 
could bid ''two no-trump." // you get it firsts 
it stands to reason that the other man can't. Then, 
too, a declaration of "one no-trump" will force 
the adversary to two, or possibly three, in his 
suit, and will often prevent his naming it to 
his partner. And this shutting out of informa- 
tion between your adversaries will benefit you 
and cripple them. 

A no-trump may be bid on a much lighter 
hand in Auction than in Bridge; in fact, that 
is true of all Auction declarations. You fre- 
quently bid no-trump without an ace. But, 
to do so, you should have either considerable 
general strength, or one good suit and fair 



XKe Opening Bid 19 

protection. Because, whatever you lead, the 
adversary can stop your progress with the ace 
and begin on his own suit. Bid no-trump if 
you have it; hut, I beg of you, don't bid it if you 
have nt, unless to save a critical situation. 

I have seen dealers pick up a hand and, 
finding a combination similar to this: 

9KQ8 
4k A K Q 10 7 
A5 
♦ KJ9 

insist on bidding "a club" (instead of a no- 
trinnp), saying they will bid the no-trump 
"when it comes round again." And it never 
comes round! For, while it is true that you 
generally have more than one chance to bid, it 
sometimes happens that you have not. With 
so many good cards in the dealer's hand, his 
partner might have a Yar borough, and the 
adversaries (holding the remaining high cards 
between them) might refuse to take the dealer 
out of a club bid which would give him so little 
even if he made it. So he is forced to play the 
hand as clubs, when he wanted no-trump, and 
to take 4 a trick, instead of 12. 

Failing to find no-trump, search your hand 
for a suit declaration, — one that holds the ace, 



20 Fine Points of A\iction 

king, or queen. Holding two suits of equal 
strength, it will often pay you to bid the lower 
one first, so that if you are raised or doubled you 
can go to the higher suit without too great in- 
crease in your bid. But this is not a rule; 
your choice of suits must be guided by the 
situation and the state of the score. Such 
knowledge will grow with practice. 

I differ utterly with the authorities who advise 
you never to bid "a diamond" unless you can 
go game on it. The mere fact of knowing that 
you protect diamonds will often enable your 
partner to bid no-trump, and take game, when 
he would have been totally unable to bid it 
without your diamond information. Suppose 
he holds a hand like this: 

^ J 10 9 2 

4bAKQJ1073 

he certainly could not bid no-trump, with two 
weak suits and a singleton ace, on his long spades 
alone. But with the comforting assurance that 
you can command, or stop, the diamond suit, 
he can bid it with perfect safety. For there is 
his odd in spades alone. If the adversary opens 



TKe Opening Bid 21 

hearts, he comes in and makes his spades; if 
clubs, his sequence is a sure stopper whether 
led up to or through; if diamonds, you protect 
him; so the odd is assured. And if you happen 
to hold ace and king of diamonds, and not 
another taking card, he cannot fail to make game. 
Why throw away such an opportunity for con- 
certed action? 

I am often asked whether it is better to bid 
the total value of your hand, or simply one 
trick in its good suit. As a rule, one trick. 
There are occasions when you wish to make a 
"shut-out" bid, and keep the adversary from 
bidding at all, and then you will make a higher 
bid. For instance, if you have been fighting 
hard for the rubber and lack but 6 or 8 points 
of it, and if you open your hand and find won- 
derful clubs, a side ace, and a suit either lack- 
ing or short, I should bid two, or even three, 
clubs! The short suit would make no-trump 
risky, the clubs are all that you need to go 
rubber, and your bid will force the adversaries 
to keep silent, or to bid more than one, thus 
giving them a harder contract. But, generally, 
content yourself with a bid of one trick, to open. 
You may need information from partner or 
adversary, and if you bid too high you won't 
get it. 



22 



Fine Points of Auction 



The following situation arose in actual play; 
and, in passing, let me say that all the hands 
here quoted were actual hands. It is as easy 
to arrange a "trick" hand to prove a certain 
point, as it is to quote Scripture to any end 
whatever. But to take hands as they run, and 
dissect them, is to get at the practical workings 
of the game. The score on the game in question 
was love-all on the rubber-game, and the cards 
lay as follows: 

^10 3 2 

4I1 A K Q 10 8 

<>953 

♦ Jio 



^56 

4iJ75 
84 
4986542 


A 


Y 

Z 


B 


9AKQJ9874 

♦ 43 

OJ 

4kK3 




n 









t|i962 

OAKQ10 762 
4 AQ7 

Z (the dealer) bids "one diamond*' only, 
because, with a higher suit (hearts) against 
him, it is essential for him to know the position 
of the clubs; lacking this knowledge, it is im- 



TKe Opening Bid 23 

possible for him to judge how high he dares bid 
his diamonds against the hearts — should they 
be bid. Y gives the desired club information 
by bidding ''two clubs," which he could not 
have done if Z had opened with a higher bid. 
And, assured of the position of the high clubs, 
Z can afford to bid his hand up to ''six dia- 
monds" (a small slam), if necessary. For he 
will not lose a single trump round; he will ruff 
hearts from the beginning; he will not lose a 
club round (judging from his partner's bid); 
and, with the king of spades in either Y's hand 
or B's he will make both his ace and his queen 
of spades. I will repeat this hand later and 
give the subsequent bidding and the play. At 
present, our business is with the opening bid 
only. 

The best general rule for the opening bid is to 
use the process of elimination. Look first for 
the highest suit (no-trump), and bid it if you 
have it. Failing no-trump, look for the next 
best bid (hearts) ; and failing that, keep on down 
the line in regular order, making the very best 
bid that your hand warrants, and leaving spades 
in reserve for a poor hand or a waiting hand. 

Everything is bid on much lighter hands than 
in Bridge, except hearts. No-trumps may often 
be bid without an ace; clubs and diamonds may 



24 Fine Points of Aiaction 

be bid simply to show that you hold the ace 
or the king, as a help to a no-trump make. 
But a heart-hid should he a heart-make. The 
reason for this will appear later, when I explain 
why your partner will never change your heart- 
bid to a no-trump, when there has been no in- 
tervening bid from the adversary. A diamond 
bid, or a club, he will be only too glad to change 
to a no-trump, — secure in the knowledge that 
you hold the ace or king of that suit. But a 
heart-bid he will allow to stand, so you must be 
able to play it when you bid it. 

There is a very important protective law (Law 
50) that provides that ''the loss at a one-spade 
make is limited to one hundred." That means 
that if you bid "one spade" and every one else 
passes, the adversaries cannot score more than 
one hundred against you (and that above the 
line), even if they make a grand slam. This 
law was formed with the idea of tempering the 
wind to the shorn lamb, and is so important 
that it caused the great English authority, 
Dalton, to rewrite his previous book. It is an 
extremely fair thing that the penalty should not 
be too heavy when all the poor cards lie on the 
side that is forced to bid ; and if the dealer and 
his partner both hold weak hands, they will 
be wise to take refuge under this law and leave 



THe Opening Bid 25 

the bid at "one spade" rather than risk disaster 
by a weak bid in another suit where they can 
lose fifty (or a hundred) for every trick that goes 
against them. It also does away with the 
necessity for taking your partner out of a one- 
spade bid, by bidding something — whether you 
have it or not. If he is weak, and you are 
weak, be very glad to let his ''one spade" 
stand, and to limit your loss to one hundred. 

Remember, though, that this shelter is pro- 
vided for you in a bid of ''one spade'' only. 
If you have bid ''two spades," or "three spades," 
you can lose as much at them as in any other 
suit. 

To sum up, then, for the original bid: 

Look first for no-trump and if you have it 
bid it. 

Failing no-trump, look for hearts, and re- 
member that a heart-bid must be a heart-make. 

Look next for diamonds, and let your bid 
show ace, king, or queen; follow the same rule 
for clubs. 

And: 

Failing to find any of these, bid "one spade, " 
to show a poor hand or a waiting hand. 



Subsequent Bids 

Every player, after the dealer, may pass, raise 
the bid, or double; the bid continues to go around 
until three successive players have passed. Raising 
the bid is either bringing it to a higher numerical 
value than the previous bid, or bringing it to the 
same numerical value with more tricks in it. If Z 
opens with ' * a club " (4) , A can bid ' ' a diamond ' ' 
(6), "a heart" (8), "a no-trump" (12), or he 
can bid "two spades," which count four just as 
one club does, but there are more tricks in it, 
and it is harder to take two tricks than one. 
Thus, "a no-trump" is twelve; "two diamonds" 
are twelve and will beat it; "three clubs" are 
twelve, and make a still higher bid; and "six 
spades" are twelve, and will beat them all — 
and (in passing) would be a wild bid. 

When you double, you undertake to keep the 
player from taking as many tricks as he has bid ; 
not to take that many yourself. Thus, if a 
player bids "three diamonds" (9 tricks), and 
you think you can hold him down to 8, or to 
26 



Subsequent Bids 27 

anything under 9, you double him. If he wins 
his 9 tricks, he gets them at a doubled value and 
gets, besides, a bonus of 50 points above the line 
for keeping his contract in spite of a double. 
If you succeed in defeating him, you take 100 
above the line for every trick that you steal 
from his contract. 

Doubling is not bidding, but it keeps the 
bidding open. If Z bids, A doubles, and the 
two other players pass, Z still plays the hand, 
and A simply tries to take enough tricks to 
defeat the contract. If, on the other hand, Z 
bids and A "raises the bid" {i. e., makes a higher 
bid in the same, or any other suit), and the two 
other players pass, then A plays the hand, 
having succeeded in taking the bid away from Z. 
There is sometimes confusion between the terms 
"raising the bid," and "doubling the bid." 
"Raising" is making a new bid that outranks 
the last, and taking the play for yourself; but 
it leaves the trick- values normal. "Doubling" 
is leaving the last player to play his own bid, 
l)ut undertaking to defeat him in so doing; and 
it doubles the trick- values. Doubling can take 
|:)lace between adversaries only. No one can 
double his partner. 

Z having opened the bidding, it passes to the 
second player, A. Let A remember that "the 



28 Fine Points of Axiction 

cleverest thing you can do is to say nothing 
when you have nothing to sslj.'" In other 
words, let him pass unless he has a real reason 
for bidding. It is too common an error to feel 
that one must always bid, and I have been simply 
astounded to see the hands on which some players 
feel that they "must give information." The 
only thing that saves such a player from reaping 
the fruits of his poor judgment is that the others 
at the table may be equally foolish ; but put two 
such players against two real Auction players 
and see how sorry will be their plight! Z's bid 
is "forced," — he must bid; A's bid is "free," — 
for Heaven's sake let him enjoy the privilege 
of that freedom. At no Auction would you hid 
on a thing unless you wanted it, or had the where- 
withal to pay for it! And I can assert most 
positively that the longer you play, and the 
nearer your game approaches perfection, the 
less you will bid. Then Auction becomes a real 
game instead of a silly squabble. And you will 
come to dread the deal for yourself or your 
partner (when you are forced to make a decla- 
ration), and to welcome those between times of 
freedom when you can employ your discretion 
whether to use a good hand for bidding, or for 
defeating the bid; and when a poor one need no 
longer be a terror to you. 



Svibseqiaent Bids 29 

But, to return to A's bid: 

If A holds a poor hand he should pass. 

If he holds a no-trumper and Z has bid ''a 
spade," he should pass. Rarely take the adver- 
sary out of a spade bid wheji you hold a no- 
trumper (unless to go rubber); he has a poor 
hand, you have a good one; use it to defeat him, 
and take fifty a trick instead of twelve. If the 
bidding goes around again, you can still declare 
your no-trump. 

If A has a good red suit, he should declare it. 
It will not be able to defeat a spade-make, as a 
no-trumper would, and he may either go game 
or help his partner to a no-trump declaration. 

If Z has made a bid in a high suit, and A holds 
sufficient strength, he should outbid Z, or make 
what is known as a "forcing-bid. " A "forcing- 
bid" is made, not with the idea of getting the 
play, but of pushing the other side higher. 
For it is always a pity to let the other side get 
the standing hid at one odd in any high suit. 
It is so easy to make one, that they can afford 
to take all sorts of risks and finesses and probably 
go game. They should be given a harder job, 
if possible; if you can push them to two, they 
will have to buckle down to the business of 
taking those two, and will be afraid to do much 
finessing — so you may save game. Thus, if 



30 Fine Points of Aiaction 

Z has bid "a heart," A v/ill sometimes want to 
bid "two clubs" or "two diamonds," simply to 
push Z up. But A must remember that a 
"forcing-bid doesn't always force"; instead of 
going up, the other side may let him play his 
"two clubs, " or "two diamonds, " and may even 
double him ; so that, unless he has some founda- 
tion for his bid, he will be in a sorry plight. And 
here follows one of the most important of 
Auction rules, one that I wish I could carve on 
the brain of every player: 

Never make a risky hid unless to go game or 
to save game! 

And certainly, never a risky black one! For 
what is the use? You work so hard, get so 
little for your pains (if you win out), and lose 
so much if you lose. You risk too much for too 
little. 

Conversely, rarely take the adversary out of 
a high black bid. If you have bid "a no- 
trump" and they cover with "three clubs," 
you can easily go to "two no-trump, " if you have 
a club stopper to stop their suit. But unless 
your 24 points will give you a winning rubber 
(there are losing rubbers, you know), I beg of 
you not to make your bid. Let them play it at 
"three clubs." With a no-trump hand and 
your club stopper, you can almost certainly take 



Svil3seq\ient Bids 31 

more than four tricks; and, if you do, you get 
fifty for every trick over four, or a hundred if 
you double. What no-trump trick is worth 
that? 

Remember that a high black bid is rarely any 
good as a forcing-bid. The other side will 
almost certainly leave you to play it. 

Another point for every Auction player to 
remember is this: 

Never hid no-trump unless you stop the adver- 
sary's suit! 

This is the one iron rule, the one that cannot 
be tampered with. In Bridge, you bid no- 
trump with a weak suit, because you hope your 
partner has help for you there. But when a 
suit has been declared against you, you must 
hold a stopper in it, in order to bid no-trump. 
If Z bids "a heart" and A bids "a no-trump," 
A says plainly to his partner, " I can stop hearts." 
That means, he holds the ace, the king with 
one, the queen with, two, the jack with three, 
or so on. He can keep the adversary from 
galloping down the line in hearts. A's partner 
(B), secure in this knowledge, can afford to bid 
on up to two or three in no-trump, if it becomes 
necessary and he has good assistance, because 
he knows his partner will stop the hearts. Never 
forget this rule and never, I beg of you, break it: 



32 Fine Points of Eviction 

Never bid no-trump unless you stop the ad- 
versary's suit. 

This is particularly binding on the first round 
of bids which is really a declaration of your cards. 
Subsequent rounds are different, but the first 
round demands a strict adherence to the rules. 
And the man who first bids no-trump, after a 
suit-bid by the adversary, declares that he 
holds a stopper in that suit. 

It sometimes happens that Z opens with "a 
no-trump" and A finds himself with a hand on 
which he also would like to bid "a no-trump." 
Shall he pass, shall he double, or shall he bid 
"two no-trumps"? 

Rarely double a hid of one in any high suit. 
It is too easy for the adversary to take one. And 
if you double, and he takes it, you make him a 
present of his trick at a doubled value and fifty 
more for a "bonus." Try to force him to 
"two no-trumps" by making a bid of "two 
hearts" or "two diamonds," if you have the 
material. If he takes the dare and goes to 
"two no-trumps," then double him, if you like. 
If you are unable to make this suit-bid, pass, 
or bid "two no-trumps" (for it often happens 
that two adversaries will bid on the same suit) . 
If you pass, yet defeat them, well and good; 
you get your 50 a trick. But if 12 will put 



Svibsequent Bids 33 

them game, or getting the play will put you 
game, bid "two no-trumps" yourself. For 
there is a saying that "the play is as good as a 
trick." This means that you can usually take 
one or even two more tricks by playing the " 
hand yourself and being the engineer of its fate. 
The adversary who first bid "a no-trump" will 
probably double you if you bid "two no-trumps." 
For he will argue that if he could take seven 
tricks in that suit he can stop your taking 
eight. But this is not always so; if you play 
the hand, he will be forced to discard on your' 
good suits, thus unguarding honors and weaken- 
ing himself materially. Were I forced to make 
a general rule as to when to pass a "one no- 
trump" bid, and when to change it to "two 
no-trumps," I should say: 

If the value of a trick will not mean game to 
either side, and if "one no-trump" has been 
bid against you and you have no red-suit bid, 
generally "pass" on a hand of general strength 
with no very long suit ; but if you hold a wonder- 
ful black suit (established) and re-entry in the 
other suits, take the bid away from the adver- 
sary and bid "two no-trumps." 

To sum up, then: 

First. — Rarely double a bid of one in any high 
suit. Force them higher first. 



34 Fine Points of A-uction 

Second. — If you cannot make a forcing bid, 
pass, if the points are not vital (that is, if they 
will not make game or save game) . 

Third. — If the points are vital, and you cannot 
take the bid away by changing the suit, take it 
by bidding "two" in the same suit in which the 
adversary has bid "one." 

Rarely hid two in any suit unless you hold 
ace or king. It is too misleading to your 
partner. He has a perfect right to place you 
with the ace or the king of any suit in which 
you have bid two — and to go on bidding accord- 
ingly. This rule applies to the first round of 
bidding; on a later round you might say "two 
hearts" on six or seven to the queen or queen- 
jack (and on information received) ; but do not 
say it on the preliminary round. 

The bid comes now to the third player, Y. 
If Z and A have both bid, Y has two sources of 
information on which to base his bid or his 
silence. If Z, only, has bid and A has passed, 
Y's position is different. If Z has bid "a no- 
trump," and A has passed, Y should pass — 
no matter what help he has, for what better than 
a no-trump can he want? It would be senseless 
to say "two no-trumps," for it would only 
increase the difficulty of Z's contract, and if 
they make two, they count them anyhow. If 



S-ubsequent Bids 35 

Y has wonderful hearts, or wonderful diamonds, 
he is, of course, at liberty to declare "two 
hearts," or "two diamonds" over Z's "one no- 
trump"; but let him remember how much less 
are the trick- values . If Z has bid ' ' a no-trump , * ' 
and A has covered with "two diamonds" (or 
"two hearts"), then Y can go to "two no- 
trumps" if he stops the diamonds (or the 
hearts), but not otherwise. 

If Z has bid "a heart" and A has passed, Y 
should also pass, even with a no-trump hand. 
A good heart-make is good enough for any one, and 
it takes only one more trick to go game in hearts 
than in no-trump. If Y has a no-trump hand, 
he will give his partner that trick and more. 
But if Y has help in every other suit, and would 
be a dead weight in hearts {i. e., if he is chicane, 
or holds only a little spot), then he may go to 
no-trump as a signal to his partner that his 
hearts are weak but he has the other suits. If 
his partner is strong enough still to want to 
play it at hearts in spite of this information, 
or if he has big heart honors that he wants to 
score, he will go to "two hearts," on the second 
round, realizing perfectly that he must take 
care of the hearts himself. If he does this, Y 
should never cap it with "two no-trumps" 
unless he has a hundred aces. 



36 Fine Points of Auction 

Remember, then: never change your partner^ s 
heart-hid to a no-trump, unless you are phenome- 
nally weak in hearts {and stop every other suit); 
or unless you have a hundred aces. 

If Z has bid "a heart" and A has passed, Y 
should, of course, never bid ''two hearts," but 
he may bid "two diamonds" or "two clubs" 
if he has a very good suit to show. Then, if 
Z is strong enough, he can go back to his "two 
hearts" on the second round, knowing in what 
suit Y can help him. Never overbid your partner 
in his own suit when there has been no intervening 
hid, but change the suit at will. 

Remember, though: 

To change your partner's bid to a hid in a 
suit of lower value {when there has been no inter- 
vening hid), you must hold excellent cards in that 
suit. It should mean at least five to three honor s, 
— generally including the ace. 

On the other hand, you may always be glad to 
change your partner's bid to a bid in a higher 
suit, on even a fairly good hand; except in the 
case of hearts and no-trump which I have already 
explained. If Z has bid "a club," Y may 
declare "a diamond" or "a heart" on any fair 
hand, — provided it holds the ace, king, or 
queen. 

If Z has bid "a heart" and A has covered 



S\jbseq\ieiit Bids 37 

with "two diamonds," Y's position is changed. 
If he can stop diamonds and holds a good 
black suit and a fair stopper (not necessarily 
a sure one) in the other black suit, he can bid 
no-trump, for his partner can take care of the 
hearts. (This situation shows why Z's heart 
bid must mean one of the three high cards.) 
If Y cannot bid no-trump, he should see if he 
cannot raise his partner's heart bid. Many 
players do this on hearts alone, which is a sad 
error. Do we not all know what it is to be left 
in a hole with nothing but trumps, while the 
adversaries hold everything else? Remember: 

Never raise your partner's heart-hid on trumps 
alone ! You should have some side-suit, a short 
suit, or a ruff. 

Suppose Z has bid "a heart" on the following 
hand: 

^ KQ10 9 62 
4^ 753 

<> 74 
♦ QlO 

and A goes to "a no-trump." In which of the 
two following hands would Z find the greater 
help? — in the first, which offers suit protection 
and a singleton ace: 



38 



Fine Points of A\iction 



^ A43 
4^ K Q J 10 9 
O AQ5 
4 A9 



or in this hand, 
nothing else: 



9a 

4k AKQJ109 
<> KQ5 
4b AK9 




9J5 

d^8642 
98633 
4b 87 

^ K Q 10 9 6 2 
4^ 753 

4b QIO 

which offers trump help, and 




4^ 82 

AJ10962 

4b J8732 



^ K Q 10 9 6 2 
4^ 753 

♦ QIO 
Play the two hands, if there is the slightest 



S\ibsequent Bids 39 

doubt in your mind. In the first instance, 
Z-Y can easily make their contract. In the 
second (with trump strength, alone, in Dummy), 
they lose seven tricks, and are thus "set" for 
100, — or 200 if A shoiild happen to double on 
his side-suits. 

We come now to the last player, B, who must 
be guided by all the information given by the 
previous bids and by the rules already quoted. 
Let me make one suggestion to him : if the score 
is low, and the other side has the bid in a black 
suit, let B be very wary of taking them out of 
it by bidding *' no-trump," even on a beautiful 
no-trump hand. For, by their own declara- 
tion, they are weak while he is strong. Then, 
why not use his good hand to defeat their 
bid, and take fifty a trick instead of twelve? 
Or why not double them (provided their bid 
is for more than one trick, and also provided 
that he can double again, no matter where 
they jump), — and take a hundred a trick? 
That is better than doing all the work and 
getting the reward in bundles of 12 instead of 
50. 

Make the other side work for you whenever you 
can ! There is one situation about which I am 
questioned more frequently than about any 
other. Suppose you have bid "a no-trump," 



40 Fine Points of A-uction 

and the other side says "two hearts"; you have 
the hearts nicely stopped and can easily go to 
"two no-trumps." Shall you do that, or shall 
you double the adversary on his "two hearts"? 
To this I invariably answer: "Would you rather 
work like a slave for twenty-four cents, or have some 
one make you a present of a dollar?''' For that 
is what it amounts to. If you take the bid at 
"two no-trumps," yours is the work and the 
responsibility; you must take 8 tricks and, if 
you take them, they are worth but 24. If, 
on the other hand, you double the adversary's 
two hearts, he will have the work and the anxiety, 
and if you take 6 tricks (not 8), you make a 
hundred; if 7, two hundred; and if 8, three 
hundred, instead of twenty-four ! Which would 
you choose? 

Of course, if those two no-trump tricks will 
give you the rubber with its attendant 250, you 
are at liberty to make your bid and take them ; 
but otherwise, double the adversary's bid in 
preference to bidding. 

Having looked into the opening bid for all 
of the four players, I will return to the test 
hand that was put before you, a little while 
back, and discuss its subsequent bidding. You 
remember the score was love-all and the cards 
Jay as follows: 



Svibseqiaent Bids 



41 



^10 3 2 

dli A K Q 10 8 

953 

4^ J 10 



9 56 




Y 




9 AKQJ9874 


4» J75 


A 




B 


♦ 43 


84 








OJ 


4^ 986542 




Z 




♦ K3 



9 — 

♦ 962 

OAKQ10 763 

♦ AQ7 

Z opens with "a diamond" only, because 
with a higher suit (hearts) against him, he must 
know the position of the clubs. A passes and 
Y bids "two clubs." Now, "to change your 
partner's bid to a bid in a lower suit (when 
there has been no intervening bid), you must 
hold great strength in that lower suit." The 
moment Z hears that bid of "two clubs," he 
knows that at least two, and probably all three 
of his little clubs will be taken care of by his 
partner. Now, indeed, he feels strong ! For he 
knows that, with diamonds as trumps, he will 
not lose one trump rotmd; he will not lose one 
round in hearts, for he will ruff them from 
the beginning; his partner's hand will take care 



42 Fine Points of A\iction 

of the three club rounds, after trumps are 
exhausted; his ace of spades is good and the 
chances are two to one that his queen will be 
(the king lying with A is the only thing that 
could hurt her). 

After Y's bid of ''two clubs," B bids "two 
hearts." B's heart hand looks stupendous and 
a novice would probably risk bidding it very 
high; its 64 honors and its long line of trumps 
would seem invincible. But, as a matter of 
fact, B should never hid more than three on it, 
and he cannot take more than two! For (and 
here follows the pith of the whole matter, as 
well as the most important rule that I have yet 
given you) : 

When you want to MAKE a high bid, count 
what you dare lose {not what you can take); and 
when you want to DOUBLE a high bid, count 
what you can take I 

I wish that you would say this rule over and 
over till you cannot possibly forget it! I wish 
I could put a calcium light in front of it, and a 
sign-post on each side! It is the groundwork 
of all good bidding and doubling — the founda- 
tion of the entire edifice, — and its observance 
is one of the greatest marks of good Auction. 
Now behold what follows: 

Z, reckoning his hand, realizes that there are 



Subsequent Bids 43 

but two losing cards in it — the queen and the 
seven of spades, — and that there are two chances 
to one that his queen will take, leaving but one 
losing card, with a chance to discard even that 
on one of his partner's clubs. He can therefore 
afford to bid it up to a small slam, if necessary ; 
and, as luck is with him, and the king of spades 
lies under his fourchette, he can make a grand 
slam in diamonds, against the best possible 
defence. B, on the other hand, finds that he 
has two losing clubs (and he knows from the 
bidding that Y will take them), one losing dia- 
mond (which will, of course, be captured by Z), 
and a very small chance of making his king 
of spades, — as there is no more pitiful object 
than a king with one bare guard, lying under a 
strong hand on the left. He therefore has 
probably five losing cards in his hand, leaving 
only 8 tricks that he can take, — a bid of "two 
hearts." However, relying on his wonderful 
hearts, his diamond singleton, and his hope of 
the ace of spades lying with his partner, he 
caps Z's bid of "three diamonds" with "three 
hearts." Z promptly answers with "four dia- 
monds." Now, if B is sufficiently foolish to 
bid "four hearts" (32), Z cannot bid "five 
diamonds," for that would be but 30 points — • 
not enough to cover 32. He is forced to bid 



44 Fine Points of Auction 

"six diamonds," in which case he will make a 
grand slam and score 94 (30 in points, 40 for 
slam, and 24 for honors). Or, he can double 
B's "four hearts" and make a hundred, and 
that without a heart in his hand. But "when 
you want to double a high bid, you count what 
you can take"; with a bid of "four hearts" 
from B, Z's book would be three; his own two 
aces and his partner's ace of clubs would make 
that book (if they don't get ruffed), and Z-Y 
hold, in addition, two kings and three queens, 
one of which should take. So if B holds two 
diamonds, two clubs, or two spades, Z-Y will 
set him for one trick. And B must hold some- 
thing beside hearts with those thirteen cards in 
his hand. 

While we are still on the subject of the bid, 
I must warn you of the penalties that lie in 
wait for a player who makes a bid that fails to 
cover the previous one. Suppose some one says 
"two diamonds" and the next bidder declares 
"a no-trump'*; his bid does not cover the 
previous one, for two diamonds outrank a 
no-trump. The faulty bidder is forced to make 
a bid in the suit he has named, that will cover the 
previous bid; in other words, he is forced to bid 
"two no-trumps," whether he wants to or not. 
He cannot say "two hearts," or anything other 



Subsequent Bids 45 

than "two no-trumps.'' Thus: Z opens with 
"a heart"; A goes '*two diamonds"; Y has the 
diamonds nicely stopped and has a good black 
suit, so he says *'a no-trump," which is not 
enough. Now if B should bid, pass, or double, 
before Y's error is discovered, Y cannot be 
punished; his bid stands as a correct bid at 
"one no-trump," and either he or his partner 
can do anything further that may suit them. 
But, if when Y declares "a no-trump," either 
adversary should say, "That is not enough," 
then Y is forced to bid "two no-trumps. " And, 
in addition to this, if B should pass, Y's partner, 
Z, cannot bid and take him out of his predica- 
ment. Y has fallen into a hole and is further 
penalized by being forced to lie in it, unless the 
adversary is kind enough to help him out, by 
bidding or doubling. 

If a player has made a bid and has been 
doubled, it is necessary to cover the original 
bid only (not the double), in order to raise the 
bid. Thus: Z bids "two diamonds" (12), 
and A doubles ; the two diamonds are now worth 
24 to Z, if he makes them, but they count for 
12 only, as far as bidding is concerned. They 
may be covered by "two hearts, " "three clubs, " 
or anything that exceeds twelve. You raise the 
hid, not the double. 



46 Fine Points of -A.\jiction 

There is a school of bidding which is diametri- 
cally opposed to the one we have just been study- 
ing; while I do not adopt it, no one can be a 
good Auction player unless he understands it. 
You may even choose to follow it; it has excel- 
lent points in its favor, but, to my mind, some 
flaws. 

This school bids "a spade" on every good 
hand, and "a no-trump" on every poor one; 
but don't cry "How absurd!" until you hear 
their reasons. They hold, in the first place, 
that Auction is the exact opposite of Bridge, 
and that a different system should govern it. 
This reason I consider rather poor and childish. 
But their second claim, namely, that it is im- 
portant to get information as to the position of 
the high cards is certainly a good one. It is 
true that if you open with a no-trump bid your 
partner will not be apt to bid and show you 
what high cards he holds; but then, if you are 
lucky enough to hold the no-trump in the 
beginning, you don't greatly need information 
from him. And your bid will keep the adver- 
saries from showing each other what they hold 
(which is a point to consider), or it will force 
them to a bid of two or more, and give them 
more trouble. Again, if you have bid "a no- 
trump," they will hate to let you get your 



Svibseqiaent Bids 47 

contract at one, in a high suit, and will either 
try to make a forcing-bid, or to declare any very 
good red suit they may hold; so that, while you 
may block information from your partner, you 
will be more apt to get it from the adversaries, 
— which will give you two sources instead of 
one. Had you bid "a spade," the adversaries 
would almost certainly have refrained from 
bidding, — so where would your information be? 

This other school claims, further, that you 
should use strong hands to "boost and defeat 
the bid," instead of bidding; suppose every one 
at the table uses this system, — who is going 
to bid, except the dealer, who is forced to? 
And, when you have used your hand to "boost, '* 
why may they not refuse to be boosted, and 
leave you with your boost, as a bid? 

However, according to this school, if Z (the 
dealer) picks up his hand and finds a perfectly 
good no-trumper, he bids "a spade." The 
adversary on his left passes, for it is one of their 
rules (and a most excellent one) never to take the 
adversary out of a black bid. So A passes and 
Y is forced to bid, merely to keep the bidding 
open. His partner has shown a no-trump 
hand by his bid, and he certainly does n't 
want it to close at "a spade"; and, if Y should 
pass, the second adversary, B, would be only 



48 Fine Points of Auction 

too glad to do likewise and leave Z to play spades 
with a no-trump hand, and thus save lo points a 
trick. So Y must bid. If he holds a sure 
trick in any suit, he must name that suit; he 
would say ''a club," or "a diamond," holding 
only a queen and two little spots, or a singleton 
ace. If he has not a trick in his hand, he must 
say "two spades" (merely to keep the bidding 
open) ; or, if his only sure trick is in spades, he 
must say "three spades." Then B passes 
(all this is cut and dried), and Z sits up and does 
what he might as well have done in the first 
place, bids his no-trump. If you ask him why 
he did n't do it at once, his only answer will 
be: "Because I don't belong to that school." 
His one advantage is that he has discovered 
whether or not his partner holds a sure trick and, 
if so, in which suit it lies. 

Now, having adopted "one spade" as a 
signal for a good hand, they cannot use it for 
a poor one; and, if Z picks up a hand in which 
there is nothing higher than a nine-spot, he is 
forced to hid "a no-trump.''' This is the draw- 
back to the system; but its devotees claim that 
no-trump gives your partner four chances to 
help you, instead of one; and that, on a nine- 
spot hand, you are going to lose anyhow, and it 
costs no more to lose in no-trump than in spades. 



S\abseqtaent Bids 49 

But this is not quite true; if you held that poor 
hand and had to play it as ''one spade," Law 50 
would protect you and limit your losses to 100 
above the line, even with a grand slam against 
you. Whereas, with this grand slam against 
you on a no-trump declaration, the adver- 
saries score 7 tricks at 50 apiece — 350, in- 
stead of 100, — the difference of the value of a 
rubber. Moreover, if you declare "a spade" 
on a poor hand, your partner can pull you out 
with any low declaration, "a club," "a dia- 
mond," "a heart," or "a no-trump"; whereas, 
if you declare "a no-trump," he would have to 
take a contract of at least two tricks, in order 
to help you out, and he is forbidden (by this 
school) to make any bid whatever when you have 
declared "a no-trump." Your declaration 
means that he is to let you alone. 

If Z has neither "a spade" bid, nor *'a no- 
trump" bid, he makes a suit-bid, — "one" for 
a short strong suit (such as ace-king-small), 
"two" for a long weak suit (such as seven to a 
queen) . 

To epitomize this school of bidding: 

Any very good hand is "a spade" (partner 
must bid). 

Any very poor hand is "a no-trump" (part- 
ner must not bid). 
4 



50 Fine Points of A.\jction 

Anything between the two is a suit bid; "one" 
for a short strong suit, ' * two ' ' for a long weak one. 

To my mind, the disadvantages of this school 
outnumber its good points. To go to the root 
of the matter, why make a high bid (which is 
hard to cover) when you are weak? And why 
make a low one when you want to play the 
hand? Is it not better to make your low bid 
when you are in distress, and thus give your 
partner a chance to pull you out with anything 
he happens to hold,— no matter how low its 
suit- value? 

Its good points are two : first, never to take the 
adversary out of a low black bid (with this I 
heartily agree. I have already begged you not 
to declare "a no-trump" over your adversary's 
bid of "one spade"). And second, to remem- 
ber that strong hands should often be used to 
defeat the bid, rather than to capture it. And 
this, too, I have begged you to remember, 
hut only wheji the deal is against you. That is 
your happy interval, when you are free to decide 
whether to use a good hand for bidding or for 
defeating the bid. When you deal and are 
forced to bid, make as good a bid as your hand 
warrants. 

In passing, it may be interesting to know that, 
in order to decide the relative value of the two 



Subsequent Bids 5^ 

schools of bidding, three friends and I played 
twelve successive hands. We were fairly equal 
in skill and experience ; two of us were exponents 
of one school, two of the other. We each chose 
two adversaries and made up two complete 
tables, — passing the hands from one table to 
the other, as in duplicate whist. In every one 
of the twelve hands, our school obtained better 
results, when the deal was with us (that dread 
time !) . Between deals, the results were approxi- 
mately the same; probably because it is on the 
opening bid that the two schools split. But 
in that test, at least, the school I have been 
teaching you, certainly triumphed. 

However, many of the most brilliant players 
are enrolled under the banner of the opposite 
system; and, whether or not you play it, you 
must understand it and be able to detect it in 
partner or adversary. For, I repeat, the best 
Auction player is not always the one with the best 
system of play; but the one who can best recognize 
and understand every system. If you meet an 
adversary who bids "a spade" and then pro- 
duces every ace and king in the pack, you will 
know him to be of the opposite school. Then 
remiember these two things: if he bids "a 
spade," bid against him if you have a good 
suit declaration; for he has a no-trump hand 



52 Fine Points of A\Jction 

and you don't want him to get the bid too 
easily; and again: if he bids "a no-trump," 
don't bid against him, for he is so weak you can 
probably defeat his no-trump. 

To blend the good points of both schools 
seems to me the sensible thing to do. Do 
not misunderstand me and think I am advising 
you to play sometimes one and sometimes the 
other. That would be horrible; concerted ac- 
tion between partners is of the first importance, 
and it would take a wizard to decide whether 
your no-trump bid meant a good hand or a poor 
one, if you were so uncertain as that. Choose 
your school and stick to it, but let it embrace the 
strong points of the other. I should cover the 
ground in this way: rarely take the adversary 
out of a black bid ; let his partner do that, then 
do your own bidding later ; often use good hands 
to defeat the make, when you are not forced to 
bid ; do not make bids that pre-empt the bidding, 
if you need certain information ; but, if you as 
dealer are forced to bid, and if you have a good 
hand and feel able to play it and score, w^hy 
waste time on a stereotyped round of bidding? 
Declare your no-trump at once. As to the 
"getting of information," you are just as apt 
to get it in one school as the other; if not from 
partner, then from adversary. 



Siabseqiaent Bids 53 

x\bove all, never make the mistake of scorning 
and condemning any school simply because it 
is not your own. That is the greatest of errors. 
Study every school, see its good points, and put 
yourself in the position where no system of bid- 
ding can nonplus you. 



The Double 

Doubling is the essence of Auction. If it 
be true (as it undoubtedly is) that the penalties 
are what bring in the winnings at Auction, it 
stands to reason that, when they are doubled, 
your winnings are increased one hundred per 
cent. On the other hand, poor doubling in- 
creases your losses in even greater proportion 
(on account of the "bonus"). 

Beginners in Auction are generally timorous 
about doubling, not realizing at first how few 
tricks they need often take in order to make the 
double stand good. Once convinced of this, 
they are apt to rush to the other extreme and to 
double far too frequently. One state is as bad 
as the other. I shall try to make it clear to you 
when to double and when to refrain. The 
subject is tremendously interesting, and it is for- 
tunately possible to give a great many terse rules 
that are easily committed to memory and that 
will serve as a guide until long habit has con- 
quered the difficulties that surround the double. 
54 



The Do\jible 55 

First, get clearly into your head the difference 
between the double in Auction and in Bridge. 
In Bridge, you never double unless you expect 
to take at least the odd — i.e., seven tricks. 
You rarely undertake such a contract in Auction, 
for you rarely double a bid of one. But when 
the other side has been beguiled into making a 
bid of more than one, you double if you think you 
can keep them from taking what they hid — not 
if you can take that many yourself. If they have 
bid three in anything, your book is four; and if 
you and your partner have a fair chance between 
you of taking five tricks (or more than five) , 
you double. The higher you can force the 
adversaries to bid, the easier it will be to double 
them. Some authorities advise you to double 
every bid of three or four, just on general 
principles, but I take exception to this. Too 
many three and four bids go through perfectly; 
even a bid of a small slam will often win out. 
Double when, by actual count of the tricks in your 
hand, you really stand a fair chance of defeating 
the bid. But don't get the doubling fever! 

Double in preference to bidding, unless the 
bid will put you game or rubber. If you have 
bid "a no-trump" and the adversary says 
"two hearts," you may find yourself in the 
position where you can either double the two 



56 Fine Points of 7\\Jction 

hearts or go to "two no-trumps." If the latter 
will give you rubber, bid it. Otherwise, double 
the two hearts ; for then the adversary will have 
to do the work and take eight tricks while you 
need only hold him back; and if you succeed, 
you get 100 a trick instead of 12. Would you 
rather work like a slave for 24 cents, or have some one 
make you a present of a dollar ? 

Do your doubling early in the rubber (so as 
to pile up "velvet" for yourself), and make a 
dash for game-points (below the line) towards 
the end. 

Remember that quick sure rubbers (where 
you secure all the bids and play all the hands) 
are always low rubbers. If you want the score 
to run high, use some of your good hands to 
defeat the bid instead of to secure it. 

Now let us see when not to double ? 

Never forget that a poor double is disastrous 
in its effects. Suppose the other side has secured 
the bid at "two diamonds " ; if they get them, the 
tricks are worth but six apiece; if you get them 
they are worth fifty — that is, seven times as 
much as theirs ; the odds are seven to one against 
the player. Now, if you make a weak double, 
you raise their trick-value to twelve apiece 
(if they make them), and you give them, in 
addition, a little present of fifty (the bonus) for 



TKe Double 57 

so doing. And you also give them the chance of 
redoubling and raising their tricks to twenty- 
four apiece and their bonus to one hundred. 
All this is a gift from you, on the strength of 
your weak double. 

A bad double is worse than a bad bid. No 
matter how poor your bid is, the adversaries 
cannot go game or rubber on it, for they can 
score above the line only ; but if you make a bad 
double, you will often put them game or rubber. 

Don't double a bid of one in any high suit 
(hearts, diamonds, or no-trump). It is too easy 
to make, in the first place, and too easy to get 
out of, in the second. If a player is doubled 
on a bid of "one heart," he or his partner can 
often shift to a bid of "one no-trump," "two 
diamonds," or "two clubs," and play it with 
ease. Try to force him to a higher bid than one, 
and then double him when you have him in a 
tight place. If you were chasing a burglar, 
would n't you rather get him into a fourth-story 
room with an open window, than in a ground- 
floor room with an open window? When you 
get him so high, the window is as great a peril 
as you are. He can't get out! 

To double a black bid of one, on the first 
round, means simply that you can stop that suit 
at no-trump, — not that you want to play it. 



58 Fine Points of Aviction 

If the opening bid is "a club," and you hold 
the ace, or a well-guarded king or queen, you 
can double the club, — simply to show your 
partner that you can stop the suit if he wants to 
play no-trump. He is often glad to know this, 
for he may hold a perfectly good no-trumper, 
and yet lack the club stopper. But if you 
adopt this method (i. e., of doubling a black bid 
of one to show a stopper) your partner should 
never leave you in the hole of having to play 
it as clubs. He should bid something, even if he 
cannot bid no-trump. For, had you held a 
phenomenal club hand, you would never have 
doubled a one-bid. You would have forced the 
adversary to two (by a side-bid), or you would 
have kept quiet and defeated him at 50 a trick. 
And it is very, very rarely that you should 
double a bid of one in diamonds, hearts, or no- 
trump. 

Don't double unless you are prepared to double 
again, no matter where the adversary shifts. At 
first, you won't like this rule and you will 
think that it curtails your chances of doubling. 
But you will come to see that no better rule was 
ever made. Suppose the adversary bids "two 
diamonds" and you have a fair chance of de- 
feating him; if you pass, he will never know of 
the pit yawning before him; he will play it at 



XHe Double 



59 



diamonds, and if you defeat him you will get 
fifty a trick. If you double him, he or his 
partner may shift to another suit (hearts or 
no-trump, probably), you may not be able 
to do anything in that suit, and they will score 
instead of you. In reaching for a hundred 
you have lost your fifty. Remember that a 
bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A 
fair example of such a hand would be the fol- 
lowing : 

The make is against you, and you are A. Z 
deals and the cards are distributed thus (the 
score being 24 to 18 in favor of Z-Y) : 



i 


y;? J 10 8 7 42 
*Q964 

— 

il^ AK2 




9q 

K Q 10 8 7 3 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^A658 

•|i873 

05 

^98763 


\ 


C?K9 

4^2 

OAJ9642 

♦ Q J 10 5 




Z might declar( 


3 "a no-trum 


p" on this hand, 



6o Fine Points of Aviction 

but a much better declaration, to the score, 
would be ''a diamond." This just suits A, 
but he must n't double a one-bid, for fear the 
adversary will either make it, or shift to another 
suit; so he "boosts" the bid by saying "two 
clubs." Y and B pass, and Z bids ''two dia- 
monds" on the strength of his singleton club 
and two spade honors, and his blissful ignorance 
of the good diamond hand that is "over" him. 
This is what A hoped for, but he must n't double; 
for if the adversary should go to hearts, where 
would he be? And this is just what Y would do ; 
he would n't bid hearts on a jack-suit on the 
opening round; and he would be very chary of 
bidding two on any suit that held neither ace 
nor king. But, with the odds announced as 
against his partner, and the tricks worth a 
hundred apiece against them, he would risk 
"two hearts" on a long weak suit with two 
honors (6 hearts are half the hearts in the pack) , 
on his missing diamond suit of which his partner 
has indicated the ace, and on his own ace-king 
of spades and queen of clubs. And on the 
strength, too, of the fact that he is not assuming 
any heavier contract; his partner's bid was for 
eight tricks — and his is for eight, — no more. 
His partner's was doubled and they stand to 
lose a hundred a trick; his may not be doubled 



XHe Do\jble 



6i 



and they may lose but fifty, if they lose at all. 
Thus, if A should double the "two diamonds" 
bid, he would frighten the adversary to hearts 
and lose everything. If he passes, they play 
it at "two diamonds," and A scores fifty a 
trick. A should not double unless he could 
double again, no matter where they jumped. 

It is often possible to double a bid without a 
trump in your hand. The following hand will 
prove this: 

95 

1^^643 

AKJ8762 

4^42 



9 Q 9 7 6 4 3 




Y 




9AKJ1083 


4^8 








♦ l095 


10 5 3 


A 




B 


0Q4 


♦ 976 




Z 




4^53 



9— 

f^AKQJ72 

4b AKQJ108 

The score is 20 to 18 on the rubber game, in 
favor of Z-Y. Both sides want to play the hand 
and score rubber. Z bids "a club," A passes, 
Y bids "a diamond, " and B " a heart. " Z says 
"two clubs," and A says "two hearts." Y 



62 Fine Points of -A.\iction 

passes, and B passes, whereupon Z goes to **four 
clubs"; for, with the ace of diamonds in his 
partner's hand, he has not a single losing card — 
he could bid to a grand slam, if necessary. A 
and Y pass and B bids "three hearts." Z bids 
''six clubs" (a small slam), and A and Y pass. 
Now B wants that bid, even at a certain loss, 
for if Z secures it he will go rubber and take 
250. If B gets the bid, the adversaries cannot 
go rubber, so he bids "four hearts." And as 
there is no possibility of bidding clubs against 
"four hearts" (four hearts being 32 and a 
club grand slam but 28), Z doubles four hearts 
without a heart in his hand! But his book is 
three; the aces of clubs, spades, and diamonds 
will make that book and he has several kings 
and queens to spare for the odd. Of course he 
realizes that, with both adversaries bidding 
hearts, some of his high cards will be ruffed; 
but A-B must hold something beside hearts, 
and all the side- suits are divided between Z and 
Y. So Z takes his chance, and is able to score 
200 above the line. 

Doubling is sometimes resorted to as a 
bluff, in order to frighten the adversary out 
of one suit and into another ; but this is rather 
risky business. The following hand will illus- 
trate; 



The Do\ibl 


e 


1 


^AQ972 

4kJ842 

07 

4H0 3 2 




^J654 

4110 9 6 

03 

♦ AQ652 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^10 3 
♦ aK53 
KQ1096 
4bK9 


< 


V^K8 

*Q7 

C> AJ8542 

j^ J74 





63 



Z deals and bids "a diamond," — to B*s 
secret delight. A passes and Y bids ''a heart," 
because he has five to two honors, and is ter- 
ribly weak in diamonds. This does not suit B 
at all; he wants to play it as diamonds, so he 
promptly doubles Y's heart-bid, hoping to 
frighten Z back into diamonds. The ruse 
succeeds and Z makes the desired bid of "two 
diamonds." A passes, and Y (thinking B 
holds all the hearts that he lacks) passes also. 
Then B passes because he has succeeded in 
coaxing Z into a trap. This sort of bluff- 
doubling should seldom be resorted to, and never 
unless the person you want to deceive bids im- 



64 Fine Points of Axiction 

mediately after you. If you double a good heart- 
bid, on a bluff, and the man you double speaks 
next, he will redouble and call your bluff before 
the bid can get around to his partner whom 
you want to deceive. You must be so placed 
as to bid immediately after the man who makes 
the undesirable bid, and before his partner whom 
you wish to frighten back to his original suit. 

Having settled the double and non-double, 
let us put the verb into the passive voice and 
say a word to the player who gets doubled. 

Don't get panic-stricken when doubled, and 
rush blindly into another bid that will give 
you more work to do. Probably more is lost 
in Auction in this way than in any other — by 
jumping into a heavier contract than the one 
you are already carrying, — and with less material 
to carry it with. If you are doubled, and can 
get out by going to a higher suit and making a 
bid with no more tricks in it, do so by all means; 
but never add to your burden. If you are 
coaxed up to a bid of "four hearts " and doubled, 
it is often well to shift to "three no-trump," 
if you have the slightest material, for it is one 
trick less to work for. But if you are doubled 
at "two no-trump," think a long while before 
you jump to "three hearts," or "four diamonds," 
which will give you just that much more to 



The Double 65 

carry. And don't get frightened at the double; 
play even a losing hand calmly, and lose as 
little on it as possible. 

When you are doubled and are hesitating 
between shifting to a trump-make or a no-trump- 
make, remember this : on a shaky hand, the chances 
in any declared trump are slightly in favor of the 
maker. That is because he can often use low 
trumps in one hand to ruff losing cards in the 
other, and can sometimes even establish that 
most valuable of aids — a cross-ruff. But in 
a shaky no-trump the chances are against the 
maker, because he has no way of coming in on 
the adversary's long suit. On a shaky hand, 
then, stick to a trump-make rather than jump 
to no-trtunp. 

Don't feel that because your partner has been 
doubled, you are forced to pull him out with 
some wild, inexcusable bid. Often he is extremely 
satisfied with his position and wants nothing 
but to be left alone. All Auction players know 
the unpleasantness of being pulled out of a 
double when they want to stay in. Sometimes, 
of course, when your partner has been doubled, 
he is in a bad way. If you can make a reasonable 
bid and come to his rescue, do so by all means. 

By a "reasonable" bid, I mean one that you 
would not greatly hesitate to make even if you 
s 



66 Fine Points of Auction 

did not feel you were in a hole. But for Heaven's 
sake don't try to rescue him by bids that have 
no possible excuse or foundation! 

When the adversary has made a bid that will 
put him game (if he makes it), and you cannot 
bid against him, but have a fair chance of 
defeating his bid, — then double him. It is 
what is known as a "free double. " He is going 
game anyhow, if he goes anything, and you 
might as well try to pull out as much as possible, 
if you "set" him. 

If your partner has been doubled and has 
refrained from redoubling, it is impossible for 
you to know whether he has refrained from fear 
(and is therefore in a bad way), or whether he 
is extremely pleased at being doubled and does 
not redouble simply because he does not want 
the bid changed. In the one case, he would be 
very glad to be rescued; in the other, nothing 
could be more provoking. Don't forget that 
there is this chance (that he likes his position), 
and ask yourself always, whether his refraining 
from redoubling is "from fright, or delight." 
As a rule, if you can pull him out with a "rea- 
sonable" bid, you should do so. But never 
rush into the breach with a forlorn hope. He 
knows what he is about when he bids; give him 
the credit for that. Let me illustrate this by 



TKe Double 



67 



repeating the hand already given a few para- 
graphs back. The score is 20 to 18 on the 
rubber game, in favor of Z-Y: 

4^643 

AKJ8762 



9Q97642 




Y 




^ A K J 10 8 3 


*8 


A 




B 


4^10 9 5 


O1053 




0Q4 


♦ 976 




Z 




♦ 53 



♦ aKQ J72 
09 

♦ AKQ J108 

Both sides want the play. Z bids "a club"; 
A passes; Y bids " a diamond, " andB " a heart. " 
Z goes to "two clubs" and A to ''two hearts." Z 
says "four clubs," and B "three hearts," 
which Z caps with "six clubs" (a small slam). 
In the hand, as we played it before, B went to 
"four hearts, " on a certain loss, to save rubber. 
He was doubled and lost 100. By losing that 100, 
he saved 250 points; for the rubber, the honors, 
and a club grand slam would have aggregated 
350 points. 



68 Fine Points of Auction 

But suppose that, instead of bidding "four 
hearts," B had doubled Z's bid of "six clubs"! 
He might have done so, for his book would 
have been one trick, — and with one trick in his 
hand and one in his partner's, they might take 
the odd. Now, if B should double the "six 
clubs," Z would be entranced; he knows he can 
make it, and it will be worth 478 points (250 
for rubber, 56 for 7 tricks in doubled clubs, 32 
for honors, 40 for slam, 50 for contract, and 50 
for one trick over the contract) . But Z must not 
redouble for fear of frightening B hack to hearts! 
So he passes, and Y sees his partner with a 
six-trick contract, doubled and refraining from 
redoubling. Is it from fright, or delight? Shall 
he let him alone, or shall he bid "five diamonds" 
(a smaller contract)? Y's hand, lacking the 
queen of trumps, is not a "five diamond" 
hand. Though he can trust the side-suits to 
Z, he cannot be sure that he can take care 
of the trumps himself and that the queen is 
not guarded against him. Moreover, he 
has a heart singleton that he must lose to the 
adversary. So he passes. With the queen 
of trumps, or without the five of hearts, it 
would be his place to bid "five diamonds," 
although in this case it would be spoiHng Z's 
hand. 



The Doxjible 69 

To sum up for the double or non-double, then : 
A good double increases your winnings one 
hundred per cent. But a poor double is far 
more disastrous in its effects than a poor make. 



Keeping the Flag Flying 

When you make a consciously losing bid 
with the sole object of keeping the other side 
from going rubber and of thus staying in the game 
yourself, it is called "keeping the flag flying." 
It is beloved of amateurs, and can be greatly 
overdone. 

You can afford to lose 450 above the line 
(no more), to save rubber, — if you go rubber 
yourself later. If the other side goes rubber 
eventually, you lose that and your 450 to boot. 
But the rubber makes a difference of 500 — that 
is, it is 250 plus for one side, and 250 minus for 
the other. Therefore, anything under 500 is a 
profitable loss in order to save rubber. Suppose 
your grand total is 600 (in points and honors), 
and the adversaries' grand total is 200. The 
play will put either side game and rubber, and 
you get a losing hand. If you allow the other 
side to go rubber, they are 200 plus 250, or 
450 to your 600, — a difference of 150. Suppose 
you make a losing bid in order to save rubber, 
70 



Ileeping' tHe Flag Flying 71 

and they score 450 above the line; they are 
then 650 to your 600. The next hand you go 
rubber; 250 plus your 600 is 850; and sub- 
tracting their 650, you are 200 points to the 
good, instead of 150 points. You have made 
50 points by losing 4^0. But you had to take 
rubber eventually to do it! 

I have been in a situation of this kind, where 
I bid a club small slam on 8 clubs to the queen- 
jack-ten, and very little side-suit, — a certain 
losing bid. I was doubled and lost 500 above 
the line. The very next hand, I got all the 
aces and kings in the pack, and went rubber 
with flying colors, on a no-trump grand slam 
with a hundred aces. But do not, I beg of 
you, feel it necessary to "keep the flag flying" 
to the tune of 700 or 800, and never do it to 
save gamey only to save rubber. 



The Play 

We will now suppose that the bidding is 
over; three successive players have passed and 
it is time to settle down to the play of the hand. 
Do you play just as you would in plain Bridge, 
or do you not? 

To this, I answer "Yes and no." The rules 
of Bridge obtain, except where the bids of your 
partner and your adversaries show you that 
it is wise to disregard them ; in other words, you 
are enabled, by the bids, to place the suits, to 
lead your partner's suit (instead of your own), 
and to lead through the adversaries' strength and 
not up to it. 

Be sure to remember which adversary is to 
play the hand and whether it is your partner's 
lead or your own. Be careful not to lead out of 
turn, for, if you do, the adversary who plays 
the hand may call a suit for your partner to 
lead, and this is often very disastrous. 

Remember that if both your adversaries have 
been bidding on the same suit, the hand is 
72 



TKe Play 73 

played by the one who first named the suit. 
Between two partners, the one who first named the 
final suit plays the hand. Between two adver- 
saries, the one who last named the final suit 
captures the hid and plays the hand. 

For instance: Z bids "a heart"; A bids "a 
no-trump " ; Y bids " two hearts, " and every one 
passes. The hand is played at *'two hearts" 
by Z, because he first (of the two partners) 
named the suit. But if Z bids *'a heart," and 
A bids "two hearts," and every one else passes, 
then A takes the bid away from his adversary 
Z, and plays the hand at "two hearts, " himself. 

Be sure, then, to remember which adversary 
plays the hand, and whether it is your lead or 
your partner's. If it is yours, lead as you would 
in Bridge, if you lead your own suit; but if 
you lead to your partner's bid (as you certainly 
should do, unless you have an excellent suit of 
your own), lead him the highest card you hold of 
his suit. Some authorities say that, holding 
five of your partner's suit headed by an honor, 
you should lead your fourth-best. But, as a 
rule, if it is your partner's suit he can take care 
of it; and you will help him to read it, and to 
clear it, by leading him your highest. If your 
partner has bid on diamonds, and you hold the 
queen of diamonds with two small, your lead 



74 



Fine Points of Aviction 



is queen, not small. Holding those cards and 
also the ace-king of a side-suit (say spades), 
you are at perfect liberty to lead your king of 
spades (to show ace), and then your queen of 
diamonds. 

When the suits have been placed, try always 
to lead through strength, not up to it. A king 
and one, or a queen and two, will always prove 
a perfectly good stopper, if led up to, but it can 
often be killed entirely by being led through. 
Suppose the cards are as follows: 

4I» 10 6 5 4 3 
K J 4 

^98632 



<;;?AQ87654 




Y 




^ J 9 3 


♦ J7 


A 




B 


4I» B 2 


Q3 




9 8 7 5 8 


♦ 54 




Z 




4 A K 7 



^ K 10 3 

4ll A K Q 9 

A 10 6 

♦ Q J 10 



Z says "a no-trump"; A says "two hearts," 
and Y and B pass. Z has the hearts nicely 



TKe Play 75 

stopped, so he bids "two no-trumps" on what 
looks like a perfectly invincible hand. A refuses 
to go any higher with such poor side-suits (he 
could bid two odd in hearts, but not three), 
so Z gets the bid at "two no-trumps," having 
shown by his bid that he held a heart stopper. 
Now A realizes that this stopper is probably 
the king; and he realizes, too, that it lies under 
his ace-queen, that he holds the "fourchette" 
over it and can kill it, if it is led through. But 
it is his own lead. If he should lead his suit 
(hearts), it would be up to declared strength 
in Z's hand, and it would make his king good. 
Z would take either the first or the second round 
of hearts and go game (nine tricks) before A 
and B ever saw light again. So A tries to throw 
his partner in the lead, that he may give him a 
heart through Z's stopper. To this end, A leads 
the highest card of his own weakest suit (the 
five of spades), hoping to throw B in. B comes 
in with the king of spades, and leads his highest 
card of his partner's suit — the jack of hearts. 
This makes Z's king absolutely valueless, and 
A-B take nine tricks (seven in hearts and two 
in spades) — thus "setting" the adversary for 
three tricks (150 points). See what a difference 
the lead makes. In one case, Z goes game; in 
the other, he loses 150 points. It is merely a 



76 Fine Points of A\iction 

question of leading up to a stopper, or leading 
through it. Had Y held the heart-stopper, 
instead of Z, then A would have known that the 
stopper was bound to be good because it lay 
over his bid, not under it. In that case he 
should have led his hearts out at once and tried 
to clear them. But the hand could not possibly 
have scored. 

// a stopper lies over the hid, it is hound to make 
and may as well do it first as last. But if it lies 
under the hid, it should always he led through, 
never up to. If the stopper happens to be the 
ace, it has to take no matter where it lies, and 
you need not bother to try to lead through it. 

Conversely, it will be seen that an honor needs 
to be much better guarded (to prove a sure 
stopper) , when that suit has been bid on the left 
of it. In rating your hand, you can always count 
the king of hearts and one small card good 
for one trick, if hearts have been bid on your 
right. If they have been bid on your left, your 
king with one small card is probably valueless. 

An ace is always a stopper, on either side, 
and a sequence of honors is also safe. With 
king-queen of hearts (and no more), yoti are 
bound to take one trick in hearts, no matter 
whence the lead comes, or where the ace lies. 
Queen -jack- ten is another invincible stopper. 



The Play 77 

But all stoppers that are not aces or sequence- 
stoppers must be regarded as more or less safe 
according to whether they lie under the bid or 
over it. 

If your partner has been bidding on any suit 
(say diamonds), and the other side makes a no- 
trump bid which he doubles, of course he is 
doubling on those diamonds, and you must lead 
him your highest, if you have the lead. But 
suppose he doubles a no-trump bid without ever 
having named a suit, what are you to lead him? 

He is probably doubling on a strong black 
suit that is too low in value to be bid against 
no-trumps; spades, probably, unless you your- 
self have a spade honor, or a long weak spade 
suit, in which case his suit is nearly sure to be 
clubs. Lead him the highest of your own weakest 
black suit. Some authorities tell you to lead 
him your highest spade under all circumstances ; 
but I hold that if you yourself hold a spade 
honor or two, or even a long line of weak spades, 
he can't be doubling on that. And he can't 
be doubling on a wonderful red suit; for, if he 
held that, he would certainly bid it once, at 
least. He must be doubling on an established 
suit of clubs (in which case he wants you to 
lead your highest, that he may come in at once 
and make his whole suit) ; or he is doubling on 



78 Fine Points of Auction 

general strength, in which case your lead can't 
hurt him, as he is bound to get the lead soon 
no matter what is played. Therefore: 

If your partner doubles no-trumps without ever 
naming a suit, lead him the highest of your own 
weakest black suit. 

There is another very important point to 
remember; namely, that there are times when 
you cannot afford to go rubber. This could 
never happen in Bridge; there, you always take 
rubber if you can. But the penalty column in 
Auction is so important a factor that it alters 
everything. You can always afford to take 
your first game on the rubber ; but if the adver- 
saries are hundreds ahead of you, in penalties — 
farther ahead than the 250 would offset — you 
should strive to equalize those hundreds before 
you let yourself take the rubber. What good 
is it going to do you to go about saying that you 
have "won the rubber," if you have lost ten 
good dollars on it? "The rubber" is merely a 
form of words; it is the side that pulls out the 
highest number of points that really wins, 
whether they go rubber or not. 

If, then, the adversaries are far ahead of you 
and you get a good hand, try to defeat them with 
it in place of bidding it. If you are forced to 
bid, and they won't take the bid from you, try 



The Play 79 

to hold down your winnings inside the rubber- 
limit, and hope to "set" the adversary the next 
hand, when he is forced to bid. If you are 
forced to play a no-trump and (being nothing 
on that game, but one game in), and the 
adversaries are hundreds ahead of you, never bid 
the hand up to "three no-trump." If you do, 
you will either have to take a losing rubber or 
lose your contract and be further penalized. 
Take the bid at "one no-trump," or "two no- 
trump," and see that you don't make any more. 
Avoid taking three odd tricks, even when you 
can do it. Throw the lead, rather, when you have 
taken your one or your two, and discard your 
remaining good cards on the adversaries* leads. 

If you are on the other side of the fence and 
are well ahead, try to force the adversary into 
a losing rubber. Force the bid on him and, 
when he has it, play your hand so that he is 
bound to go rubber whether he wants to or not. 

With these exceptions, the lead and the play 
are just what they would be in good Bridge. 
Only, the naming of the suits (in the bidding) 
enables you to place them ; and, to this end, you 
must remember not only the final bid, but all 
previous bids. This done, make it your rule to 
lead through strength — not up to it — and you 
will not go far astray. 



Hints 

Don't try to play all the hands; often use a 
strong hand to defeat the bid. 

Try to score penalties on the adversary in 
the beginning of a rubber, and to secure the 
play of the hands at the end. 

Try not to let the adversary get the bid at 
one, in any high suit; hut: 

Remember that a ''forcing bid" doesn't 
always force; you may be left with it on your 
hands. 

Remember that a ''short sure rubber" (where 
there are no penalties) is always a low rubber. 

Never make a risky bid, unless to go game or 
to save game. 

Don't make risky black bids; they are worth 
mighty little to you, and as much as no-trump 
to the adversary. 

Rarely take the adversary out of a risky black 
bid. 

Don't double a bid of one in any high suit; 
you will let your burglar out of the first-floor 
window. 

80 



Hints 8 1 

To double a person gives him a chance to 
change his bid; therefore: 

Never double unless you are prepared to double 
again, no matter where the adversary jumps. 

When you want to make a high bid, count 
what you dare lose; when you want to double 
a high bid, count what you can take. 

Double in preference to bidding; let the other 
side work for you. 

A bad double is worse than a bad bid. The 
adversary cannot go game or rubber on your 
bid, no matter how poor it is. He can go 
game on your double. 

Unless the bid would put you game, be content 
to yield it to the adversary, unless the bid will 
put him game; in that case, take it away even 
at a risk. If it would put him rubber, take it 
away even at a certain loss. 

You can afford to lose 450 above the line, in 
order to "keep the flag flying, " if you go rubber 
eventually. Any loss that greatly exceeds 450 
is unprofitable. 

A good double increases your winnings one 
hundred per cent. 

If your partner doubles no-trump without ever 
having named a suit, lead him the highest of 
your own weakest black suit. 

It is worth at least one or two tricks to have the 



82 Fine Points of Aviction 

play of the hand. If you have a no-trump hand 
and the adversary bids "a no-trump, '* force him 
to two if possible (by a bid in a side-suit). If 
you cannot do this, it is better to take the bid 
yourself at "two no-trumps" than to double his 
one. Of course, if you have the lead and hold 
an established suit of seven or more cards, it is 
better to double him. 

A shaky hand is safer as a declared trump than 
as a no-trump. 

The player's first care is to make what he bid; 
the adversaries' first care is to defeat the bid. 
Do your finessing after this is accomplished. 

Keep a keen eye on the score (both points and 
penalties), and don't go rubber unless you can 
afford to. 

Be a reliable partner and don't give false 
information. That is better than mystifying 
the adversary. 

Understand every "school" of play. 

Be careful about bidding two in any suit unless 
you hold ace or king. 

Never bid on a jack-suit, or a ten-suit, on 
the first round. Auction is a game of strength 
rather than length — a game of aces and kings. 

Never raise your partner's heart-bid on 
trumps alone; you should have some side pro- 
tection, a short suit, or a ruff. 



Hints 83 

Never overbid your partner in his own suit, 
when there has been no intervening bid, but 
change the suit at will. 

To change your partner's bid to a bid in a 
lower suit (when there has been no intervening 
bid) , you should hold at least five to three honors, 
including the ace. 

Be very glad to change your partner's bid to 
a bid in a higher suit, except in the case of hearts 
and no-trump. Never change your partner's 
heart-bid to no-trump, unless you are very weak 
in hearts (or chicane) and can protect every 
other suit, or unless you hold a hundred aces. 
A good heart is good enough for any one; to 
change it to no-trump is a signal to your 
partner that he must take care of the hearts 
himself. 

If you hold a poor hand, one that must lose, 
lose on your adversary's declaration rather than 
on your own; it is much less expensive, unless 
his declaration would put him rubber. In 
that case, declare on your own hand. 

Almost any rule can be broken in a critical 
situation, if you know you are breaking it and 
if the occasion demands it. If there be one 
iron rule, it is: 

Never bid no-trump unless you stop the ad- 
versary's suit. 



84 Fine Points of -A.\iction 

Pay strict attention to all bids, in order to 
place the suits. Then make it an invariable 
rule to lead through strength, not up to it, and 
you won't go far astray. 



A Warning against Overbidding 

There is no fault as common in Auction as 
overbidding; it is the rock which wrecks nine- 
tenths of the lost hands. It is constant and it 
is inexcusable. Players seem to feel that they 
are not playing real Auction unless they rise to 
the occasion and make some kind of a bid every 
time it comes around to them. Even holding 
hands upon which they would hate to be forced 
to bid in plain Bridge, they insist upon bidding 
them in Auction, when they are not forced to it. 

Let me see if I cannot cover the situation in a 
few words, and help you to cure yourself of 
this fault, if you have it. 

The dealer {^forced to bid, but no one else is. 
And no one else should, unless he has a real 
reason for so doing. 

The first round is a declaration of high 
cards, not a make. If you have a "free" bid, 
{i. e.y if you are not dealer), never make a first 
bid on a suit unless you hold one or two of the 
three highest cards of that suit, and some- 
85 



86 Fine Points of Aviction 

thing else besides. Pass rather. And even as 
dealer, remember that any bid (other than 
**one spade") must show high cards. You bid 
from strength, not length. 

On later rounds, the information you glean 
from partner and adversary may enable you to 
do something with a longer weaker suit; but 
even then don't keep going up, and up, on 
slight material. 

Never break any of these rules, except with the 
specific object of saving rubber. Nothing else 
will excuse you. 

You need not dread letting the adversary 
get the bid at "two diamonds," or "two lilies,'* 
on a clean score. It takes a good many tricks 
to go game in clubs, diamonds, hearts, or lilies; 
with nothing on the game, it is the exceptional 
hand that will go game in the hand. And if 
your adversary holds that exceptional hand, he 
will get the bid in spite of you, — unless you give 
him a chance to do even better by doubling some 
silly weak bid of yours, and of thus piling up 
hundreds in penalties. Big penalties are the 
biggest possible thing in Auction; and if the 
adversary gets them, they are always a present 
from you. Do try to remember this ! He cannot 
make a big score unless you let him! He may get 
all the cards; he may go game in one hand, and 



Warning against Overbidding 87 

rubber in two,— but it will be a very slight rub- 
ber. It will not please him nearly so well as 
one where you give him 700 or 800 in penalties, 
by overbidding your poor hands. 

Do digest this point. Auction was made to 
keep good hands from going to waste, not to 
encourage ridiculous bids on poor ones. You 
bid on good hands; and two good hands held 
against each other will often run the bidding very 
high. But you should rarely bid much on 
mediocre hands ; and never on poor ones, except 
to avert a catastrophe. The reason is so obvious 
that it seems odd to have to reiterate the advice. 
The only possible explanation of the poor bid- 
ding that is constantly seen, is the gambling- 
spirit that is said to lie somewhere in each of 
us. Remember, though, you cannot bluff in 
Auction as you can in poker, because all of the 
hands are played. How much bluffing would 
you attempt in poker, if you had the absolute 
certainty of being called every time? I smile 
whenever I hear any one insisting that "Auction 
is all bluff." And I think I have had several 
thousand such smiles. It is a very common 
error, but an error just the same. 



Raising Your Partner's Bid 

Having attempted to guide your choice of 
bid in your own suit, I will try to show you how 
you should, or should not, go up in your part- 
ner's suit. 

When your partner bids his hand, he counts 
on one or two tricks that you are to take. 
Statistics show that nine-tenths of the hands 
dealt have at least one trick in them. Your 
partner will therefore allow one trick, at least, 
to your hand. It follows that you must never 
go higher, in his suit, unless you can give him 
more than the one trick on which he has already 
counted. For that trick cannot take twice. 

Suppose your partner has opened with **one 
heart" and the following adversary says "two 
diamonds"; don't go to "two hearts" simply 
because you have the ace of trumps! That is 
only one trick, and your partner has counted 
upon one. You must hold something more, if 
you want to raise him. 

And just a word as to "raisers." In a de- 
88 



Raising Your Partner's Bid 89 

clared trump they are aces, kings, singletons, 
missing suits, and guarded trump-honors, — 
nothing else. No guarded queens nor guarded 
jacks in side-suits, may be counted as raisers; 
by the time a suit goes round the third time, 
or the fourth, one of the adversaries may be 
trumping it. Singletons are raisers, but double- 
tons are not ; you may easily lose both rounds of 
a suit in which you hold two poor cards. A 
singleton ace may be counted as two raisers, 
because you take with it on the first round and 
get a ruff on the second. A missing suit may be 
counted as two raisers, provided, of course, 
that you hold two trumps with which to ruff 
that suit when it is led. But none of these 
may he reckoned as a raiser until you have sub- 
tracted from your hand the one trick upon which 
your partner counted and which is the toll you must 
pay him. 

Suppose your partner bids "a heart," and 
this is your hand : 

d|il0 5 3 
Q 5 4 2 

♦ ^75 

Now the adversary following your partner bids 
"two clubs"; you can raise your partner once, 



90 Fine Points of Auction 

but not twice; that is, you can go to "two hearts " 
but not to "three hearts." For you have one 
raiser, and one only, in your hand. Your 
guarded trump honor is the trick you owe your 
partner; and your king of spades is a raiser, 
unless "lilies" should be bid on your left. In 
that case he would be useless, and you could not 
count him as a raiser. 

Now I will show you why that queen of 
diamonds is not a raiser. In almost all cases, 
you can count on two rounds of a side-suit 
going through ; that means that a side ace, or a 
side king, is a fairly sure trick. But the third 
round of a suit is a rather forlorn hope and should 
not be reckoned on. How many tricks are there 
in a hand? Thirteen. How many aces and 
kings? Eight. That leaves but five tricks to 
be divided amongst four queens, four jacks, and 
all the lower cards in the pack. You will easily 
see how slight a chance one of those eight 
queens and jacks might have at one of those five 
tricks. Your queen might happen to be one of 
the lucky ones — or it might not! 

A missing suit or a singleton ace, however, 
will put your hand out of the commonplace 
class and into the unusual. Either of them is 
worth all the side-queens and side-jacks put 
together. 



Raising Your Partner's Did 91 

At no-trump, it is exactly reversed. A missing 
suit is the most serious of drawbacks, and a 
singleton ace is only a little better. A well- 
guarded queen may always be counted as a 
trick, if her suit has not been bid on your left. 
If it has, she is good onl}^ if she is a sequence- 
stopper. Queen-jack-ten will always be a 
stopper, no matter where the ace and king of 
the suit may lie. 



Losing Rubbers 

I WISH I could impress on my readers the 
necessity for keeping their eyes on the penalty 
column and of avoiding "losing" rubbers. Any 
one who plays for high stakes is not apt volun- 
tarily to take many such rubbers after a few 
bitter experiences. But those who play for 
the love of the game seem to feel that they have 
won something, even when they go rubber with 
a loss of 400 or 500 points. "At any rate, we 
won the rubber," they will tell you, with pride. 

What satisfaction can there be in such a 
victory as that ? The ' ' rubber ' ' is simply a term : 
the players who win the most points on their 
grand total are the winners, whether they have 
or have not added to their score the 250 for 
the rubber; and their adversaries are the losers. 

When the adversaries are far ahead of you 
(on the grand total), you simply cannot afford 
to go rubber, unless you are forced to. Any 
one who voluntarily takes a losing rubber 
definitely ends his own chances for that time. 
92 



Losing R\ibbers 93 

As long as you keep the game going, you have a 
chance of getting even with the other side by 
some turn of luck, of "setting" them in their 
bid, and of wiping out the difference between 
their score and yours. 

Try, from the beginning, to keep the adver- 
saries from piling up big penalties against you. 
Should they happen to get such penalties, set 
yourself immediately to work to offset these 
penalties by winning some for yourself ; in other 
words, begin at once to use your good hands 
for defeating the bid instead of for securing ito 
Don't wait until the game is far along and you 
can be put in the position of either taking a 
losing rubber or of being further penalized; go 
to work at once. 

For instance, suppose you have allowed the 
adversaries to pile up some 700 against you in 
penalties; you have each won a game, and the 
rubber-game stands at 24-26. If they are wise, 
they will force that rubber upon you, and you 
are powerless to resist the attack. If it is their 
deal and they open the bidding, you are afraid 
to let them have it because it will give them a 
big rubber against you; you are obliged to bid 
against them, whether safely or unsafely. Then 
if they are real Auction players they will drop 
at once, allowing you to play the hand. And 



94 Fine Points of Axiction 

you are forced to win your bid and take a losing 
rubber, or to lose your bid and give them a 
still higher penalty column. And if it is your 
opening bid, they will use the same system and 
will refuse to bid against you no matter what 
they hold. 

Don't let matters come to this pass. The 
moment you are heavily penalized turn all your 
efforts toward penalizing the adversary in return ; 
don't try to play the hands — try to set him. Bid 
against him just enough to force him, then sit 
still and defeat him. If you can't do this on 
the first hand, try to do it on the next. And 
keep on trying till it is accomplished! Never 
lose sight of that big penalty against you. 

When you are on the other side of the fence, 
and have just won big penalties, be very care- 
ful to give the adversaries no chance to offset 
them. If you have a perfectly sure bid, make 
it ; but play an absolutely safe game. Never be 
tempted to a shaky bid, even for forcing pur- 
poses (you might get left with it) . If necessary, 
let the adversaries play all the hands ; let them go 
game, and even rubber! You will still take the 
winnings and that, I imagine, is your object. 

If you follow this scheme, they will never be 
able to penalize you except on some chance hand 
when it is your deal and both you and your 



Brilliancy vers\is Solidity 95 

partner hold hopeless hands; you (being forced 
to bid) say "a spade," and your partner can 
say nothing. That is the adversaries' chance, 
and (by refraining from bidding) they may get 
back a hundred of their lost points; but, under 
Law 50, they cannot get more. And such 
desperate hands do not occur often. 

If you are playing in absolutely hard luck, 
it is often better to take the rubber quickly and 
get the 250 as an offset to the penalties. If it 
is to be a sure loss, make it as slight a one as 
possible by ending the rubber while it is young. 
But in the ordinary run of games, use the system 
I have recommended ; avoid taking losing rubbers 
yourself and try to force them upon the adver- 
sary. Make him go rubber while it costs him 
money; if you allow the game to go on, luck may 
turn against you, the adversary may be able to 
penalize you for several hands running, to wipe 
off his losses and to pull out well ahead of you in 
the end. 

Brilliancy versus Solidity 

When I recommend solidity of play, rather 
than brilliancy, let no one misconstrue my mean- 
ing and think that "solidity" means "wooden- 
ness. " An automaton is not an Auction player; 



96 Fine Points of -A.\Jction 

you must know all your rules, and you must 
occasionally break them when the occasion 
demands it. Scope must always be given to 
individual judgment and to the exigencies of the 
situation. But, I beg of you, do not make 
erratic brilliancy your lode-star. The thing that 
may seem incredibly subtle and clever to you 
may leave your partner gasping and uncertain. 
Be reliable! Don't go against the established 
standards of the game unless you have a real 
reason! Don't bid on jack-suits and ten-suits 
(on the first round) simply because you want the 
fun of playing the hand, and then say that the 
situation demanded an unusual handling. 

Take my word for it, all the really great players 
are solid, reliable, rock-bottom partners. There 
are few brilliant "coups," few wild flights into 
the unexpected, no erratic arguments. The 
first time you play with them you will probably 
be disappointed at the calmness of their game; 
but it won't take you long to realize what 
absolute rocks of safety they are. 

There is a brilliancy so exaggerated that it 
amounts to unsoundness. A hectic game may 
dazzle at first, but you will not find it attractive 
as a constant companion. 



A Condensed List of Bridge Leads 

Incredible though it may seem, many 
persons are attempting to play Auction without 
a thorough knowledge of their Bridge-leads. I 
therefore append a condensed list of these leads. 

In Any Declared Trump 

(Hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades) : 

Your best lead is always from two honors 
that touch (ace-king, king-queen, queen- 
jack, or jack- ten), and the higher the honors 
the better the lead. The lead of king, from 
ace-king, is the best in the pack, as it usually 
takes the trick, leaves you in command of the 
suit, and gives your partner a chance to "echo. " 

Holding two honors that do not touch, try 
to let the suit come up to you. 

Holding any three honors your lead is always 

one of those honors. There is no exception to 

this rule in a declared trump; some authorities 

consider ace-king- ten a bad combination, and 

7 97 



98 Fine Points of Auction 

think it unsafe to lead from it ; but I can see no 
objection to the lead of the king. 

Holding no two- or three-honor suit, lead fourth 
best from a single honor (that is not an ace) , or 
lead ''short." 

A "short" lead is a singleton or a doubleton. 

Rarely lead short when you hold good trumps ; 
keep them to defeat the make instead of ruffing 
with them. And, of course, never lead short 
when you are chicane; there would be no object. 

In leading from a two-card suit, always lead 
the higher card first. This constitutes an 
"echo." 

Never lead fourth best from two honors, or 
three honors; simply from a single honor that 
is not an ace. 

If you lead from an ace-suit, lead the ace 
itself, unless you hold king, as well. Never lead 
low from a suit that is headed by the ace. 

The lead of an ace denies the king, 
unless it is immediately followed by the king, 
when it means "no more of that suit. " Always 
lead ace from every combination that holds it, 
unless you have king as well. 

The lead of a king means the ace, the 
queen, or both. 

The lead of a queen means jack and others, 
and denies the king. 



In No-Trump 99 

The lead of a jack means the top of a 
sequence, or the top of nothing. 

"The lead of the ten means the two 
gentlemen" (king- jack- ten). Some players 
lead the jack from this combination, but the 
ten is more conservative. The ten may also 
be led from the top of a sequence, or the top of 
nothing. 

All other leads are either fourth-best from a 
single honor, or short. 

In No-Trump 

Your lead is always the fourth-best card of 
your longest suit, unless you hold a seven-card 
suit, or a three-honor suit, in which case you 
may lead high. The single exception to lead- 
ing an honor from a three-honor hand is when 
those honors are ace- jack- ten, or ace-queen- 
ten, and you have no side re-entry. Then your 
lead is fourth-best; but with re-entry, it is ace. 

Holding no decent suit, lead a nine-spot as a 
signal of distress. The nine is always a marked 
card; in a declared trump, it is always a singleton 
or a doubleton ; and in no-trump, it means "don't 
touch that suit." It could uH be fourth-best, 
for, if it were, the three higher cards would 
all be honors, and your lead would be one of 
those honors — not the nine-spot. 



100 Fine Points of Auction 

Holding no good suit and no nine-spot, lead 
the next-to-top card of a long weak suit. The 
rule of eleven will probably show your partner 
how poor your suit is, and keep him from re- 
turning it. 



The New Count 

A COUPLE of years of Auction have proved two 
things: first, that the game has come to stay; 
and second, that the original suit-values are a 
bar to good bidding. 

In the old game of Bridge there was no bid- 
ding, so the wide discrepancy in the suit- values 
was no drawback. Then Auction came, and we 
were all so fascinated by the new game that it 
took us some little time to recognize its flaws. 
But the longer we played it the more we realized 
the unfair advantage given to red cards, the 
impossibility of gambling on black hands, and 
the necessity for pushing the suit values closer 
together. 

The New Count has been formed to obviate 
these difficulties. It has sprung into immediate 
and universal popularity, and is sweeping the 
country like wildfire. Even the players who 
refused it recognition, at first, have fallen into 
line and are using it. 

The new count is not so much a change in 

lOI 



102 Fine Points of A\Jction 

the game as it is a perfecting of the game. 
It is the perfected result of two years' intelligent 
"trying out" of the game that has come to be 
the most popular card-game of two continents. 

Under the new count, the suits rank as 
follows: 



Spades, 


2 a trick (as before). 


Clubs, 


6 " " 


Diamonds, 


>y <I n 


Hearts, 


o a tt i* *t 


Lilies, 


9 " " 


No-trump, 


10 " " 



"Lilies" are very good spades. If your hand 
is poor, you bid it as spades, just as you always 
did; the tricks are worth two apiece and you are 
sheltered by Law 50 (i. e. "the loss at a one 
spade bid is limited to 100"). But if you hold 
very good spades, you bid them as lilies, at nine a 
trick. You bid "one lily," or "two lilies," just 
as you would bid "one heart" or "two hearts." 
You know what combinations of cards would 
justify a heart bid; these same cards, held in 
spades instead of hearts, will constitute a lily 
bid. Of course, when you are bidding lilies 
you are not sheltered by Law 50. 

The honor- values are, of course, relative to the 
suit- values, and run as follows: 



TKe Ne-w Count 103 

Dia- No- 

Spades, Clubs, monds. Hearts, Lilies, Trump 



Simple honors 4 


12 


14 


16 


18 


30 


Four honors 












(divided) 8 


24 


28 


32 


36 


40 


Five honors 












(divided) 10. 


30 


35 


40 


45 


— 


Four honors 












(in one hand) 16 


48 


56 


64 


72 


100 


Five honors 












(in one hand) 20 


60 


70 


80 


90 


— 


Four honors in 












one hand, 












with fifth in 












partner's 18 


54 


63 


72 


81 


— 



This gives several unfamiliar numbers, such 
as 81, 14, 45, etc. But one soon grows as 
accustomed to them as to the old values. 

The advantages of the new count are manifold. 
Let me show you some of them: 

It makes a better-balanced game; and, that 
being the case, the bidding becomes sharper and 
keener. The old game was like a see-saw with 
the red end so heavy it was always on the ground, 
and the black end so light it could never weigh 
at all ; and the new game is like the same see-saw 
with a perfect equilibrium established between 



104 Fine Points of A\action 

the two ends. The rubbers are apt to be longer 
under the new count, for the same reason that 
a well-balanced see-saw will "teeter " longer than 
one which is too heavy at one end and too light 
at the other. They are longer, but they are 
better. 

Then the suit-values are but one point apart, 
and that is more vital than you might imagine. 
A bid of two in anything will heat a hid of one in 
anything. Do you see what a difference that 
is going to make? After you have made a bid 
of two, no one can beat it with a bid of one. 
Formerly, a bid of "one no-trump" would 
knock over a bid of "two clubs"; and one is so 
easy to make that it seems rather unfair to 
allow it to outrank two. 

But the most important feature of the new 
count is the way it equalizes the black suits and 
the red. Formerly if your hand held only 
clubs or spades it might almost as well have 
held nothing, except for an occasional forcing 
bid. The player with the red cards had simply 
a walk-over, and you were pushed to the wall. 
And as exactly half of a pack of cards are clubs 
and spades, it follows that exactly half the bid- 
ding opportunities were lost. With a black 
hand you took a back seat. Now there is no 
back seat for either black hands or red ones. 



THe Ne^w Count 105 

The advantage is absolutely poised between 
them. 

Again, the new count equalizes the chances 
of going game in a certain number of tricks. 
Formerly you could go game at no-trump with 
three odd tricks; there was but one suit (and 
that a red one) in which you could go game in 
four odd ; but one suit (and that also a red one) 
in which you could go game in five odd; and no 
black suit in which you could possibly go game in 
the hand, even if you made a grand slam. 

Does that strike you as a particularly well- 
balanced arrangement ? With the revised count, 
no-trump is reserved for the only declaration in 
which you can go game in three odd — and you 
may hold a good no-trumper when the pre- 
ponderance of your hand is red, or when it is 
black, so that the suits are equalized even there. 
Then there are two suits (one red and one black) 
in both of which you can go game in four odd; 
and of these two the black is one point higher. 
And there are two suits (one red and one 
black) in which you can go game in five odd; 
and of these two the red is one point higher. 
It is the quintessence of balance. 

Suppose the rubber game stands at 20-24, 
and the play is of the utmost importance to both 
sides. You get wonderful spades and your 



Io6 Fine Points of -Auction 

adversary gets wonderful hearts; your cards are 
as good as his, but they happen to be the wrong 
color. By the old count, he can knock you in 
the head with a bludgeon and walk off with 
your corpse; by the revised count, you both 
settle down to a keen and fair battle of bidding 
for the play; the advantage is neither for him 
nor for you. In other words, any suit can stand 
on its own feet against any other. 

And lastly, by the new count, no-trump is 
relegated to its proper place; it is the highest 
suit, but by no means the only suit. And, by 
the old count, it was so overwhelming that three- 
fourths of the hands played were no-trump 
hands, and it was rarely possible to make a 
successful suit-bid in any suit, save hearts, 
against a no-trumper. Now, nothing is prettier 
than a well-played suit-hand; and one of the 
beauties of the new game is that your chances 
are equal for playing with a trump or without 
one. No-trump hands are good as all other 
things are good — in the proper place and in 
the proper proportion. 

In three hands, dealt at random and without 
any rearrangement of cards, the increased 
bidding possibilities of the new count show up 
very remarkably. I will give you the hands; 
Z, of course, is the dealer: 



THe New Count 



107 





9k874 






4k J 10 8 6 






10 8 6 5 






♦ 8 




9j 


Z 


C?A95 


t|kKQ974 


A B 


♦ 52 


0K9 


J43 


♦ AQ764 


Y 


4bJ62 




9 Q 10 6 3 






*A3 






OaQ7 






4 K 10 9 3 





Z, naturally, bids "a no-trump"; and, bj' 
the old count, no one can make a reasonable bid 
against him. ''Three clubs" would be an 
absurd bid from A, even with his heart singleton 
and his side ace; nothing could warrant it but 
an effort to save the rubber. So Z gets it, with 
no contest, at "one no-trump." It is the old 
story of the knock-down blow; there is no 
subtlety, no contest, no anything. 

Behold how different under the new count: 
A can cap Z's bid with "two clubs" or "two 
lilies, " just as he sees fit, and if Z wants that bid 
he must work for it. There are infinitely greater 



io8 



Fine Points of Aviction 



possibilities of bidding, of forcing, of doubling, 
and of ''setting." 

The second hand fell as follows: 





^ K63 
4b J975 
<> 10 8 43 
♦ K6 




9 A 10 42 
4t KQ63 
<> 972 
♦ 74 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^85 

«l^ 10 2 

<> AJ6 

4 A J 10 9 8 5 




9 QJ97 

♦ A84 
KQ5 

♦ Q32 





Z says a "no-trump." 

A and Y go by. 

B is able to bid "two lilies." 

Z, having the lilies stopped, is able to go to 
"two no-trumps," if he wants to. Should he 
elect to do so, A might double on his partner's 
lilies and his own hearts and clubs; or he might 
fear the diamonds and pass; or he might go to 
"three lilies" on his side suits. And Y would 
also have several courses open to him from the 
information he had gleaned. The bidding on 



THe Ne-w Count 



109 



the second round would differ according to the 
judgment and temperament of the players, but 
the point is that there would be sure to be 
"something doing." The new count would 
make the game active. 
This was the third hand: 



\ 


C? A83 

4b Q9654d 

Q64 




^ 10 9 5 3 
4^ A 10 7 3 
A97 
♦ Q9 


dY 

A B 

Z 


9Q74 
4I1KJ8 

OJ 

4^ A86432 




^ KJ6 

* — 

K10853J 

4 K 10 7 5 


2 



Z would probably bid "a diamond" because 
he lacks clubs. 

A and Y would go by. 

B would bid "a lily" on his diamond singleton 
and side-suit honors. 

Then, can you not see the infinite possibilities 
of the hand? Z would bid "two diamonds," 
hoping to defeat B if he went to "two lilies.** 



110 Fine Points of Auction 

Following the "two diamonds" bid, A might 
bid "two lilies" on a trump-honor and two side 
aces, or he might venture on "two no-trumps," 
fortified by the fact that no one had bid hearts 
(so they were probably not banked in one hand) , 
and that he held four of them, to the ten, 
himself. Then, there is a possibility of Y 
going to "three diamonds, " on his trump honor, 
his side ace, his side queen, and his spade single- 
ton. The point is, that "three diamonds" 
(21) will beat "two no-trumps" (20), which it 
would never do before. 

Just lay this hand out, imagining yourself 
to be any one of the four players, and see where 
your skill in bidding would have the greater 
scope, in the old count or the new ! 

The three hands just given are simply the 
first three hands that fell at random, but they 
happen to be excellent examples of what I am 
trying to point out. Of course, there will be 
many hands where the bidding will not vary 
between the two counts ; but there will be many 
more where it will vary exceedingly. 

And I will make one prediction! After you 
have played the new count a dozen times, 
the old will seem as flat and tame as would a 
game of plain Bridge to an ardent Auction 
devotee. Try it, and see! 



Test Hands 



III 



Test Hand No. i 

(Discarding to unblock; and allowing a suit to 
come to you through a declared stopper.) 





♦ A 6 4 3 
^42 

4^ 10 9 8 7 6 3 


9 Q J 3 

♦ 52 

AQJ96 5 

♦ K4 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^ 10 8 7 6 4 
♦ 9 8 7 
10 8 3 

♦ qj 




^ A 9 5 2 
♦ K Q J 10 
0^7 
4 A5 2 





This is one of the subtlest of hands — especially 
for A. 

Z bids "a no-trump"; A "two diamonds"; 
Y and B pass. Z's diamond stopper is very 
8 113 



114 Fine Points of j\\jction 

light, lying, as it does, under the diamond bid; 
on the other side, it would be perfectly safe. 
However, he says "two no-trumps," as I think 
nearly any one would do in his place. And 
every one else passes. 

Now it lies entirely with A whether or not 
this bid shall go through. As the hand was 
played, A insisted on leading his diamonds 
(against expert advice). He led his Ace, then 
his queen, to clear the suit, insisting that he 
had re-entry in both spades and hearts, and 
would make his diamonds later. And he did; 
but it was so much later, that Z had made what 
he bid. 

For the hand hinges entirely on Z's taking, or 
not taking, with the king of diamonds. He has 
exactly eight tricks in the two hands, allowing 
one for the diamond king, — four club tricks, 
two heart tricks, the ace of spades, and the king 
of diamonds. Failing one of those tricks, the 
bid will not go through. 

Always remember that "if a stopper lies under 
the bid, and is not the ace, it should be led 
through — never up to." Z's bid of "two no- 
trumps" declares a diamond stopper; from A's 
hand, that stopper is shown to be the king — 
and the king in a very perilous position. It 
should be A's sole care to throw B in, that he 



Test Hand No. 1 1 15 

may lead the diamonds through Z; and it 
should be Z's sole care to keep B from taking a 
single trick. He does not care how many 
tricks A takes, for A will have to lead up to him ; 
but he simply cannot afford to let B in, to lead 
the diamonds through his king. 

A should lead "the highest of his own weak- 
est suit" — the five of clubs. Z takes this with 
Dummy's ace, so that he may lead his long suit 
(spades) through B. If he should lead spades 
from his own hand up to Dummy's ten, B might 
come in with the jack, the queen, or the king 
(if he held them), and lead diamonds through 
Z — and then the fat would be in the fire. 

So the first club round goes to Y's ace. Y leads 
the 6 of spades, B plays the jack, and Z the ace ; 
and (here comes the crux), A must throw his 
king on that ace! For had Z held the queen 
of spades, he would, certainly have finessed it, 
not being afraid to let A in. As Z does n't 
hold it, B must; therefore A must throw away 
his king, in order to unblock and give B a 
spade re-entry. If A comes in on hearts, he 
must lead his four of spades; B will take with 
the queen and lead bis ten of diamonds, and 
their object will be accomplished. 

Should Z elect to open hearts instead of spades, 
A must follow the same principle — he must 



ii6 Fine Points of A.\action 

keep a small one to try to throw his partner in. 
A has two objects — to get out of B's way in 
every suit but diamonds, and never to take a 
trick until the diamonds are led to him from one 
of the other three hands. It would be very 
unusual for Z to make his hearts before he took 
a try at his long spades. But suppose he should ! 
He can still be defeated. 

When Z takes the first club round with 
Dummy's ace, he may lead his king of hearts. 
Then A must throw his jack. Z will then get 
into his own hand with the clubs and make all 
the clubs he holds. If he next leads the ace of 
hearts, let A he sure to throw his queen to try to 
unblock hearts for B's re-entry. He knows that 
B must hold some suit with more than three 
cards in it. It has been shown that B's length 
is not in clubs; A's hand will prove that B's 
suit is not diamonds; Dummy's long line of 
spades will make it improbable that B holds 
many of them, — and hearts are thus marked as a 
long weak suit in B's hand. 

Thus, if A opens the diamonds, Z wins out. 
If he allows the diamonds to come to him, Z is 
defeated. Never forget that if a stopper lies 
under the bid, and is not the ace, you should 
never lead up to it, but always through 
it. 



Test Hand No. 2 



117 



Test Hand No. 2 



(A situation where it is right to break the rule 


against bidding on jack-suits. The score 


demands it.) 




943 




4I1 7 4 3 2 




8 4 2 






♦ Q 9 6 5 




9 K 8 2 


Y 


9 J 10 9 6 5 


4^ AK 9 8 5 


A B 


*J 


^7 


A 6 


4^ 843 


Z 


4b AK J72 




5;? AQ7 




♦ Q 10 6 




K Q J 10 


5 3 


♦ 10 




Score: Z-Y, 24 






A-B, 18 





Z and Y are one game in. 
As this hand was played (it was played by 
the old count, so B's spades were useless), Z bid 
*'a diamond" to the score and on his honors. 
A and Y went by, and B broke the rule and bid 
"a heart" on a jack-suit. He did this to save 
rubber, and trusted to his trump sequence and 
his club singleton. Z bid *Hwo diamonds," 



Ii8 Fine Points of Auction 

A "two hearts," and Y and B passed. Z bid 
"three diamonds," A and Y passed, and B said 
"two no-trumps. " Z doubled, A and Y passed, 
and B (afraid of the club singleton) went to 
"three hearts." Z doubled again, every one 
passed, and B played the hand at "three hearts" 
(doubled), and took five odd (80 for points, 50 
for contract, 100 for extra tricks, and 16 for 
honors — a total of 246 points). 

Z led K O » B took it and led singleton club, 
taking with ace ; led king cf^, discarding 6 (^, and 
led K ^ which Z took. Z led spade singleton 
which B took with jack and led trumps till Z 
had queen alone. Then he forced Z to trump 
a spade with this queen, and took every other 
trick (trtmiping his losing spade in Dummy). 

Z made a mistake in doubling B's bid of 
"two no-trumps" and frightening B back to 
hearts. B could not have made two odd in 
no-trump, and he made five odd in hearts. 

A shaky hand is safer as a declared trump than 
as a no-trump. 

Test Hand No. 3 

(If the adversary makes a bid that suits you, try 
to force him to two in the same suit by 
making a side-bid. If you can't do this, 
sit still. Don't double a bid of one.) 



Test liand No. 3 



119 





\C?AQ943 
4^ J 10 9 2 
0K5 

♦ aq 




^872 

AQ10832 
4^6532 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^KJioe 

♦ AKQ765 

Oj 


< 


^5 

4^843 
09764 
4b K 10 9 8 7 





Z bids ''a spade." A may or may not bid 
his diamonds; the rest of his hand is trash, and 
it is a good thing to leave the adversary in a 
"one spade" hole. However, A has six dia- 
monds to three honors and a missing suit, and 
most players would prefer to bid. Whether 
he bids or not, Y will. He may bid "a heart, " 
or a "no-trump " ; his short suits would make the 
heart look better. This bid suits B, who should 
"boost" with "two clubs." Z and A pass. 
If Y goes to "two hearts," B can beat him 
badly; but B mustn't double with two poor 
suits for fear of frightening Y to "two no- 
trumps." If B should double "two hearts," 



I20 Fine Points of Aviction 

Y would go to "two no-trumps" and make it 
easily; but he cannot make "two hearts." 

If, on the first round, Y should bid "a no- 
trump" in place of "a heart," B might risk a 
"boost" with "two hearts" or "three clubs." 
The latter wotdd be foolish ; it is always a mistake 
to risk a high black bid which is worth so little 
to you and so much to the adversary. If B 
says "three clubs," he will be doubled and will 
lose; if he says "two hearts, " he will be doubled 
and will win — 32 for tricks, 16 for honors, and 
50 for bonus; total, 98 points. 

If B should happen to be left with his boosting 
bid of "two clubs," he can make it unless Z's 
second lead happens to be a spade. Z's first 
lead is the five of hearts to his partner's bid; 
Y, knowing this to be Z's highest heart, sees it 
is also his lowest (with the four and three in 
his own hand, and the two on the board). He 
therefore takes with his ace and returns his 
queen. B covers and Z trumps. Now Z wants 
to put his partner in (so as to trump another 
heart) ; his natural choice of suit would be the one 
in which he himself is weak, and in which dummy 
shows a long ten-ace suit — the diamond. He 
does not know his partner's hand, and would 
almost certainly choose the diamond. If he 
does, B wins out. It would be very unusual 



Test Hand No. 4' 



121 



for Z to choose a spade, the suit in which he 
himself is strong and Dummy is weak. If he 
should happen to lead a spade, however, B is 
defeated. 

Test Hand No. 4 

(Double, rather than bid, in the beginning of 
a rubber.) 

Ok87 

♦ aqio 
Oak 
4 A Q 10 9 3 



9 AQJ1094 

OQ53 
4^K85 




^5 

•|i J 9 8 6 5 
972 
4^ J764 



^632 

4iK743 

0^10864 

Score: Love-all on a new rubber. 

Z bids *'a spade"; A "a heart"; Y *'a no- 
trump," and B passes. Z passes. A bids 
''two hearts " and Y doubles him and makes 200. 
He counts one trick for his trump king (lying 



122 Fine Points of A.\xction 

on the safe side of the heart bid) ; 2 tricks in 
diamonds and a possible diamond ruff (for he 
leads ace, then king, to show no more) ; and one 
trick for each of his black aces. His book 
being five, that will give him the odd. Instead 
of a diamond ruff, he may get a spade ruff in 
Z's hand. For after two diamond leads, Y, 
wishing to throw Z in (so as to get a diamond 
ruff), leads the ten of clubs through Dummy's 
greatest strength. Z takes with his king, and 
instead of leading a diamond he may choose 
to lead his spade singleton. The result is the 
same, whichever way it is played. 

If Y had bid "two no-trumps," he would 
have scored 24 against the best possible defence ; 
by doubling the ''two hearts" he scores 200, 
with less work. 

" Would you rather work like a slave for twenty- 
four cents, or have some one make you a present of 
two dollars?'' 

If Z-Y had been eight or more, on the rubber 
game, Y would have preferred to take the bid 
and go rubber. 



Test Hand No. 5 



123 



Test Hand No. 5 

(The most remarkable hand I have ever 
seen dealt.) 

4^ 10 8 5 3 2 

— 

4^ K Q 10 7 3 



^ K654 




Y 




<0 873 


♦ aq 


A 




B 


4I» KJ97 


KQ98753 




— 


♦ 




Z 




41 AJ864 



^ A Q 10 
4» 64 

<> A J 10 6 4 2 
4^ 95 

This is one of the most remarkable hands I 
have ever known. After seeing it occur in 
actual play, I was so struck with it that I went 
home and spent a couple of hours playing it in 
every conceivable way. Then, wanting the 
opinion of more minds than one, I collected 
three of the best players I have ever known, 
and we four spent another hour over it. 

Of course, it is necessary to allow scope for 



124 Fine Points of -A.\iction 

individual judgment in the bid, after certain 
fixed laws have been observed! But there were 
two points in this hand that we all agreed in 
branding as incorrect. The first was any 
possible doubling of bids of one, and the second 
was any thought of no-trump bids. No-trumps 
are very bad with lacking suits. The only 
player who could possibly consider no-trump is 
Z, after he has discovered his partner's spades; 
and Z is never in the position where he will be 
tempted to it. 

Z opens with "a diamond.'* There could be 
no two opinions about that. 

A should pass unless "two diamonds" would 
put him rubber, in which case he should bid 
them. Unless he is at least i6 on the rubber 
game, he should pass and let Z play it. If A 
can take two odd in diamonds, they will be 
worth 14 under his own bid, and 100 if he lets 
Z play it. 

A should positively not double a one-bid. 
He runs the risk of frightening the adversary to 
lilies, which would not suit him at all. "When 
the bid suits you, say nothing, — unless you 
are prepared to double again, no matter where 
the adversary jumps." 

If Z is left with the "one diamond" bid, Y 
must positively say "one lily," because he 



Test Hand No. 5 I25 

lacks his partner's suit, and has a very good one 
of his own. 

B should keep silent after Y's bid, on exactly 
the same principle that A should keep silent 
after Z's. 

Z passing, A would probably bid "two dia- 
monds." He sits on the safe side of the adver- 
sary who bid them, and he can ruff the other 
adversary's suit. 

Up to this point, I do not see room for any 
question as to bid or pass. But I do consider 
it open to discussion whether or not Y shall bid 
"two lilies" (provided he has heard no bid 
from B). 

If he does, B will double. And then arises 
the only possible no-trump question: shall Z 
bid "two no-trumps" when he sees his partner 
doubled? 

I think it unwarranted; his diamonds are not 
in sequence, and he knows a strong diamond 
hand lies over him; he knows nothing of clubs, 
his spades are wretched, and his hearts should 
be led to. 

A no-trump bid from A should never be 
considered. He lacks his partner's suit, so 
that B's spades would be useless; he doesn't 
want to lead diamonds up to Z; his clubs are 
terribly short (length is strength in no-trump). 



126 Fine Points of -Auction 

and no one could call his hearts good. Short 
suits and missing suits are terrible at no-trump, 
and A has both. 

As far as results go, if Z plays "one diamond, " 
A-B score loo (2 tricks undoubled) — provided 
A leads his short suit instead of a heart. With 
a heart-lead, Z will make three heart rounds. 
But if A leads ace of clubs and follows with the 
queen, and if, whenever he comes in, he leads a 
trump from his sequence, he defeats Z to the 
tune of 100. If A plays it at diamonds, he 
makes 2 odd (14) against the best possible 
defence. If A doubles diamonds and frightens 
Y to lilies, and if B is wise enough to sit still 
and let him play it, A-B make 100. And this 
is more luck than A had any right to expect. 
If B says "two lilies, " he cannot make it against 
the best defence. 

If B doubles "a lily" and Z tries no-trump, he 
can take six tricks, and reduce his loss from 100 
to 50. 

And if A plays "one no-trump," he can take 
the odd, — 'lo points. 

This all shows that A-B hold the winning 
combination, no matter how the hand is played 
(except at "two lilies"). It lies with them 
whether they will take 10 points, 14 points, 50 
points, or 100 points. Which would you choose? 



Test Hand No. £> 

Test Hand No. 6 

(Played by the old count.) 



127 





\/ Q9872 

♦ K4 

KQ973 




9 10 

A J 10 6 54 
♦ Q 10 9 7 4 


Y 

A B 
Z 


9 A64 

4I1 Q98632 

02 

4b K52 




9 KJ53 

4I1 A J 10 5 

08 

4b AJ83 





Z may open with "a club," or "a no-trump," 
according to the score. 

If Z bids "a no-trump," A will say *'two 
diamonds"; Y will double; B will say ''two no- 
trumps," and Z will double. 

If Z bids "a club," A will bid "a diamond"; 
Y will "boost" with "two clubs" (on his spade 
singleton), and B can double, pass, or bid "a 
no-trump." 

If B doubles, he makes a mistake, for Z goes 



12.8 Fine Points of Auction 

to "a no-trump," A to "two diamonds,*' and Y 
doubles and defeats him. 

If B bids **a no-trump, " Z will certainly want 
to force him to two. His only chance would be 
with "two hearts," which his hand certainly 
does not warrant. But he might try it on his 
diamond singleton, his partner's "two club" 
bid, and the fact that hearts have not been bid 
against him and that he knows the hand that is 
"over" him holds diamonds and not hearts. 

If B passes the "two club" bid, instead of 
doubling, his partner (A) will never know that 
he holds club strength, and will bid "two 
diamonds" over Y's "two clubs" — which is 
just what Y wants. 



Test Hand No. 7 129 

Test Hand No. 7 

(Two good hands, bidding against each other). 

^ 10 9 8 7 6 5 
4^742 
05 
4^987 



^A 




Y 




^ J432 


♦ — 


A 




B 


♦ K 10 8 6 3 


OKJ10987643 







4K4 3 




Z 




4 Q 10 6 5 



9kq 

4^AQJ95 

OaQ2 

4bAJ2 



A bids diamonds against Z's no-trumps. A 
can afford to bid "three diamonds" and make 
them against Z's possible double. If Z bids up 
high in no-trumps, A can double and defeat 
him. 

"Position" is against Z; he has a good no- 
trumper, but his diamonds lie under A's, and it 
is impossible to get into Dummy to make the 
hearts or to lead clubs through B. 



130 



Fine Points of A.\iction 



A hand like Dummy's (Y's) would seriously 
hamper the best of no-trumpers. 

Y must never permit his partner to hold 
that bid in no-trump. Whatever Z bids in 
no-trump, Y must overbid in hearts ; he bids on 
a long weak suit, a diamond singleton, his 
partner's side-hand, and to prevent disaster. 



Test Hand No. 8 

(It is better to raise your partner's heart-bid on 
side-suit, or a ruff, than on trumps alone.) 



^33 
4I1AQJ933 

o — 

4 AKJ63 



^J654 




Y 




9K7 


4I1IO6 


A 




B 


*K4 


0Q3 




A J109764 


4^97542 




Z 




4 108 



9AQ10 98 

4I1875 
O K852 



Test Hand No. 5 13I 

Z, "a heart.'* 

A, "By." 
Y, "By." 

B, "two diamonds." 
Z, "two hearts." 

A, "By." 
Y, "By." 

B, "three diamonds." 

Now Z will not go to "three hearts," even 
with his singleton spade, for he has no knowledge 
of the whereabouts of the good black cards. 
The diamond bid is not displeasing to him, but 
he will not double because of his ignorance of 
the black suits and his fear of frightening B to 
no-trump. So he passes, A passes, and Y says 
three hearts^ with only the deuce and trey in his 
hand. 

To an amateur, this would seem preposterous. 
But, as a matter of fact, Y has raised his part- 
ner's bid only one trick, and there is no reason 
in the world why both these little trtunps should 
not take tricks — by ruffing diamonds. Y holds 
a very vStrong hand to assist a heart make; 
much stronger, in fact, than if he held a long 
line of trumps and no side-suit or ruff. 

His lack of diamonds is his best point, and 
his spades and clubs are splendid. By the 



132 Fine Points of Auction 

new count, he could bid clubs or lilies, but this 
hand was played by the standard count. And 
Z-Y can take four odd (the game) against the 
best possible defence of A-B. Yet Z's heart 
hand is in no way remarkable. 

A is in the lead, and naturally leads to his 
partner's bid — the queen of diamonds. Z 
trumps in Dummy and gets into his own hand by 
leading a small spade up to the queen. He 
leads a small diamond and trumps in Dummy. 
Then the ace and king of spades. If B trumps 
spades (which is unlikely, as he will want to 
save his king of trumps) Z will over-trump him. 
He will then lead a small club up to Dummy's 
ace (avoiding the finesse), and lead spades again 
through B . 

If B refuses to trump the spades, Z will con- 
tinue to lead them, and will discard his own 
losing clubs on them. 

''It is better to raise your partner's heart-hid 
on side-suity a short suit, or a ruff, than on hearts 
alone,** 



Test Hand No. 9 



133 



Test Hand No. 9 

(The importance of holding re-entry in your 
partner's suit.) 

^ K 8 4 3 

4kAK92 

— 

4AJ985 



^AQ972 




Y 


9 J6 


«j|l»QJ10 


A 


B 


4e8764 


OJ754 


O1O86 


♦ 10 




Z 


♦ kQ74 



z, 

A, 



9 10 5 

4^53 

AKQ932 

4^632 

a diamond" 
a heart" 



Now Y stops hearts, and has some excellent 
black cards and may easily consider that he 
has a no-trumper. Let him remember that his 
lack of re-entry in his partner's suit is a serious 
obstacle. With a stronger hand, he would not 
need his partner's diamond tricks; it would be 
sufficient for him to know that diamonds were 
not established against him. 



134 Fine Points of A.\iction 

But Y's hand is far from strong; there is no 
long, estabHshed suit in it. He will certainly 
need his partner's diamond tricks, and he cannot 
get them unless Z holds side re-entry. It is 
improbable that he would hold heart re-entry, 
with a heart-bid from A, and four hearts to the 
king in Y's own hand. And with four black 
face cards in Y's hand it may easily happen that 
Z would not hold re-entry in either of the black 
suits. 

If Y should bid "a no-trump" and B should 
pass, Z should certainly go back to "two dia- 
monds," because his diamonds are good enough 
to warrant it, and his side-suits are wretched. 

If Z, however, had made a weak diamond bid 
(if he had held, for instance, ace- jack and two 
little spots), there would be no reason for him 
to go back to "two diamonds," and thus make an 
unsound bid. For aught he knows, his partner's 
no-trump bid is perfectly safe, and it has not 
been capped. Why, then, should Z take a 
contract of two because he fears he is too weak 
to make one? If it cost any less to be defeated 
in diamonds than in no-trump, the bid would 
be excusable; but it costs just the same — fifty 
a trick. Moreover, a bid of two is far more apt 
to be doubled than a bid of one. 

Had Z made a weak bid, therefore, he should 



Test Hand No. 9 135 

not go back to "two diamonds." But in the 
present hand, his diamonds are excellent and he 
shotdd certainly cover his partner's possible 
*'one no-trump" with "two diamonds." 

If A should cover this bid with a bid of "two 
hearts" (tempted by his spade singleton), 
Y would be much wiser to double than to bid 
"two no-trumps." He has four sure tricks in 
his hand and his lack of his partner's suit is an 
advantage; he may get a ruff. 

Should Y double the "two hearts," he would 
make 300. Should he bid "two no-trumps," 
he would lose 100 (provided he had been 
doubled) — a total difference of 400 points! 



136 



Fine Points of Auction 



Test Hand No. lo 

(A hand that would tempt many players to 

break the rule that forbids a ten-spot 

bid on the first round.) 



^ AJ582 

4^Q52 
1078 
4|bA8 




^1098764 
4kK7 
09 
4bKQJ10 



V— 

4liJ9843 

Oakq 

4^76548 



Z should not bid "a heart,** on the first 
round, on a suit that runs only to the ten-spot. 
Many players would do it, and of course he could 
make it, with his heart sequence and his 
diamond singleton. But that is Bridge rather 
than Auction. To bid on a suit, on the first 
round, should show that you hold the ace, the 
king, or the queen of that suit. It is safer to 



Test Hand No. lO . 137 

break this rule in hearts than in any other suit, 
because your partner won't change your heart- 
bid to " a no-trump, " and it is in no-trumps that 
ten-spot suits are a menace. 

If Z were playing the new count, he would say 
"a lily." By the old coimt, he should say "a 
spade." 

A may then refuse to take his adversary out 
of a spade bid, and go by; or he may bid "a 
heart" or "a no-trump." Y could not make a 
first bid on a jack-suit (a bid of two on that hand 
would be high at any time); he passes and B 
passes. 

Now, if A has bid "a heart," Z is in luck; 
he must not double for fear of frightening A 
to no-trtunp, and also for fear of showing him 
where the strength lies. He lets A play it at 
"one heart," and takes 200 points in penalties 
(four tricks at 50 apiece). 

Y leads ace of clubs, and taking Z*s 7 for 
encouragement, leads clubs again, thus giving 
Z his king. Z leads king of spades which A 
would probably take. Then, wishing trumps to 
come to him, he would voluntarily throw the lead 
by leading his queen of clubs, to get it trumped. 
Z would oblige him and would return the queen 
of spades; seeing his partner's nine fall, he would 
lead spades again. Thus, if A ruffs, Y ruffs 



138 Fine Points of A\iction 

over him. He then has no choice but to lead a 
diamond. A takes in Dummy and leads it 
again, but the second round is trumped by Z 
who leads his ten of spades, and A-B are set for 
four tricks. 

In the event of A choosing "a no-trump" 
as his first bid, Z can cap it on the second round 
with "two hearts" — though he should not bid 
"one heart" to open; the second round is a 
make, the first is a declaration of high cards. 

A may or may not double two hearts. Whether 
he does or not, Z can make three odd in hearts 
against the best possible defence. 



Test Hand No. 11 



139 





Test Hand No. 


II 


(When 


not 


to lead the highest of your 






partner's suit.) 








^KIO 








4^72 








<> A96 










4876543 






9aj 




Y 




^Q9765 


♦ KQ3 






A B 




4^ 10 8 6 5 4 


0Q73 








<>53 


4AKQJ9 




Z 




♦ 10 



^8432 

4kAJ9 

K J 10 8 4 

Z, "a diamond.'* 

By the new count, A could bid "a lily*'; by 
the old, he says "a no-trump." 

Y might bid "two diamonds," but it is rather 
weak. If he does n't, Z will; A will go to "two 
no-trumps," and every one else will pass, leaving 
Y in the lead. 

This is one of the positions where Y should 
not lead the highest of his partner's suit. A is 
marked with a diamond stopper ; it may be queen 
or king. Z's bid of "two diamonds" would 



140 



Fine Points of A.\Jction 



make it probable that A's stopper was the queen. 
And Y wants that queen with his ace, so he 
must not lead up to it. 

He leads the highest of his weakest black suit 
and Z comes in with the ace. Y's refusal to 
lead diamonds up to the stopper marks him with 
the ace; so Z promptly leads his ten through 
the stopper, and A is badly set. 

Test Hand No. 12 

(Better to double than to bid.) 





9J43 
♦ 974 
O J9 






4^S7632 




9A6 


Y 


^987 


i|kA6 

AKQ833 

♦ kJ 10 


A B 
Z 


4kKJ832 
O1075 
♦ Q5 




^KQ1053 
♦ Q 10 5 
<>6 4 ( 
4bA94 





Z, "a heart." 
A may bid either "a no-trump," or "two 
diamonds," according to the score. 



Test Hand No. 13 



141 



Y and Z pass. 

Z says "two hearts." 

Now, unless the play of the hand would put 
him rubber, A should double the "two hearts" 
rather than bid against it. He has five almost 
sure tricks in his hand, and a possible sixth. 
One trick from his partner is all that he asks. 

If A doubles the hearts, he and his partner 
make 200. It would take more than 16 odd tricks 
in no-trump to give them 200! 

Test Hand No. 13 

(How much less safe a stopper is, when it is 
not a "sequence stopper.") 





^432 






4^4 






Q983 






4^ J8532 




9975 


Y 


9QJ10 


iAQ10763 


A B 


4^852 


07 


OA642 


4^764 


Z 


♦ kqio 




9aK86 






4iKJ9 






OKJ105 






♦ A9 





142 Fine Points of Aviction 

This hand was played by the new count. 
Z, "a no-trump." 
A, "two clubs." 
YandB, "By." 
Z (feeling he has the clubs stopped), 

"two no-trumps." 
And every one passes. 
A leads the highest of his weakest suit, the 
seven of diamonds. B comes in with the ace, 
because he knows his partner wants the clubs 
through the stopper. He leads his highest club ; 
Z covers and A takes. A tries to throw his 
partner in by leading spades through Dummy's 
strength. Z takes that round, but is eventually 
"set" in his bid. 
Had Z held a sequence-stopper, such as: 
4I1 J 10 9 4 
it would not have looked as strong, but it would 
have been a sure stopper, whether led up to or 
through, and regardless of the position of the 
other clubs. 

This hand is another proof of the wisdom of 
not leading up to a declared stopper (other than 
the ace) that lies under the bid. I lay constant 
stress upon this point, because it is one on which 
I differ from one or two of the recognized 
authorities who insist that you should lead your 
suit, no matter where its stopper lies. 



Test Hand No. 14 



143 



I have seen hundreds of Auction-hands 
played, and I have yet to see one where a trick 
was lost by allowing a suit to come up to you 
through a declared stopper (other than the 
ace). And I have seen scores where many 
tricks were won and bids defeated by following 
this method. 

In this hand, had A led clubs, Z would have 
taken two club rounds and made his bid. 

Test Hand No. 14 

(Second hand should not bid unless he has a 
real reason for so doing.) 





^KQ94 






♦ aqj 






AQJ8 






♦ kq 




^863 


Y 


^AJIO 


d|kl0 8 2 


A B 


4li7654 


K10 54 


<>32 


A764 

• 


Z 


4^ J952 




^752 






*K93 






0976 






4|^ A 10 8 3 






Z, "a spade 


t» 



144 Fine Points of Auction 

A belonged to that unfortunate class who 
consider that they must always ''give some 
information" to their partner. So he bid "a 
diamond" to show an honor. Y could hardly 
believe his ears; he wouldn't double for two 
reasons: first, because a bid of one is easy to 
make — for aught he knew, A might hold nine 
diamonds and ruff his suits ; and second, for fear 
B should jump to "a lily." (B couldn't bid 
"a lily," but Y did n't know that.) Y did n't 
"boost" for fear A might refuse to be boosted. 
He simply sat still and congratulated himself. 
So every one passed. 

Y led his king of spades and followed with his 
queen. Then, reading the ace in his partner's 
hand and also wanting trumps to come to him, 
he tried to throw Z in with the club (hearts 
would not do with the ace on the board and the 
king-queen in Y's own hand) . 

Y led ace of clubs and Z played nine — an 
encouragement card. Y led the queen and Z 
took with his king, made his ace of spades, and 
led trumps up to Dummy's weakness. 

Z-Y made 400 points — much more than a 
rubber is worth. 

If A had passed, Y would have bid no-trump 
and made four-odd — ^40 points instead of 400. 

The point is this : A-B stood to lose on such 



Test Hand No. 15 



145 



a hand as that, but they could not possibly lose 
as much by letting the adversary play it as by 
playing it themselves. Never forget that, if you 
must lose, it is much less expensive to lose on the 
adversary's declaration than on your own. And : 
There is no excuse for a bid from sec6nd hand, 
unless he has a real reason for bidding. The 
beauty of the motto, ''speech is silver, but silence 
is golden, " is nowhere made more apparent than 
at an Auction-table, after the opening bid has 
been made ! 



Test Hand Nc 


>• 15 


(Too much information is often given in the 


exaction of penalt 


ies.) 


9K4 




♦ KQ53 




OKQ82 




i 


(J^AQ? 




9qj5 


Y 


^A109873 


4^92 


A B 


♦ A6 


<> AJ1063 


054 


4 J 10 9 


Z 


4^543 




^62 




4^ J 10874 


^ 


<>97 






4bK862 





146 Fine Points of Auction 

As this hand was played, Z bid "a spade," and 
A "a diamond, " because he and his partner had 
24 on the game and he wanted to go out. With 
a clean score, he might possibly not have taken 
Z out of a "one spade" bid. 

Ybid "a no-trump." 

B, "two diamonds," to the score and on his 
two aces. His hearts are rather scattered for a 
"two heart" bid. 

Y, "two no-trumps," and every one else 
passed. 

A carelessly led. It was his partner's lead, 
not his, and Y immediately called suit, demand- 
ing that B lead a heart. B led a small heart, 
A played jack, and Y took with the king. 
Both adversaries knew immediately, from their 
own hands, that he held king with one small 
in hearts and was afraid of being led through, 
and from this information they were able to 
defeat him. Y (not daring to try any finesses 
with the hearts established against him) made 
his spades; they were obvious, but short. Then 
he was forced to lead clubs and B put up his 
ace on the first round. Failing Y's heart-call, 
B's natural lead would have been a diamond to 
A's bid; his own hearts are rather a poor suit to 
lead from, and not knowing his partner's hand 
he would have led the diamond and have let the 



Test Hand No. 15 H7 

hearts come to him. But Y's foolish suit-call 
had exposed his weakness; B led ace of hearts 
and A threw his queen to unblock. They took 
five heart-rounds, the ace of clubs, and the ace 
of diamonds, thus setting Y badly. 

Y should have called a spade, taken with his 
queen, and started on his clubs at once. When 
B came in with the ace, he would have led a 
diamond to his partner's bid. If A failed to 
take the first round, Y would have gone game 
at once. If A took the first round and led 
diamonds again, Y would have gone game with 
ecjual ease. The only way he could have been 
defeated would have been by A's taking the 
first diamond round and leading his queen of 
hearts; and that would have been a most im- 
probable thing for him to do, not knowing how 
the hearts were distributed. It is a possibility 
hardly worth considering; but, even had it 
occurred, Y would have lost but one more trick 
than he did by calling suit ; and he ran a chance 
of going game in place of being set. 

Don't call a lead up to a king and one small, 
unless you are willing that every one shall know 
what you hold. It was eminently right and fair 
that Y should call a suit; A had exposed one of 
his cards to his partner which he should not have 
done. Y was right to equalize this by calling 



148 



Fine Points of -Axiction 



a lead; but he should not have shown his own 
weakness. 

Test Hand No. i6 

(When to bid and when to pass.) 





^ 872 






4f» J765 






<> J53 






4^ J76 




^ AKIO 


Y 


9 QJ3 


4I1 Q10 3 




4^ AK8 


K72 


A B 


AQ6 


4b K Q 10 2 


Z 


4b 9543 




^ 9654 




- 


^ 942 






10 9 84 






4b A8 





The bidding of this hand caused a great deal of 
discussion. 

It was the first hand of a new rubber, and 
everything hinges on that fact. Z bid "a 
spade," and A was determined to declare his 
no-trump. Had it been toward the close of a 
rubber, or had either side been one game in, 



Test Hand No. 16 149 

the no-trump declaration would have been right 
beyond question. But in the beginning of a 
rubber you should strive to score penalties on 
the adversary, not to play the hands yourself. 
"Don't declare a no-trump against a one-spade 
bid, in the beginning of a rubber." 

If A held a wonderful red suit, he would 
certainly declare it, for it wouldn't defeat "a 
spade." But such an assortment of aces, 
kings, and queens as A holds cannot fail to 
defeat "a spade" to the tune of 100 points. 
One hundred points are as much as ten no- 
trump tricks are worth — more than a no-trump 
grand slam. Z has declared his weakness, and 
A should certainly pass, in the hope of defeating 
him. If Y should make any declaration (he 
might hold the remaining good cards), A has 
another chance to cap Y's bid. If Y passes, 
showing two poor hands in partnership, B 
should certainly pass (unless he held a phenome- 
nal red suit, or a hundred aces). Z and Y are 
in a hole; they would much rather lose on the 
adversary's declaration than on their own; but 
it is the place of A-B to see that they lose on 
their own. 

It is true that "the loss at a one-spade bid is 
limited to 100 points." But is n't 100 enough? 
You would feel very happy to score 100 in 



150 Fine Points of A\iction 

playing a hand yourself; why, then, despise it 
because it is a present from the adversary? 
Be thankful, and take it as often as you can get 
it. 

Another point of objection from amateurs is 
that you ''lose the fun of playing your no-trump 
hand." If you think the fun is worth a dollar, 
play it by all means. 

I am very sure that any practised Auction vet- 
eran will agree with me on this point. Lay up all 
the nest eggs you can, in the shape of penalties, 
while the rubber is young. Then get the play 
of the hands towards its end, and you will have 
a nice ''fat" rubber! Or, if you cannot get the 
play of the hands at the end, your penalties 
will wipe off all the adversaries' winnings. 

It is, of course, perfectly obvious that, in this 
particular hand, A-B could make a small slam 
by declaring no-trumps, and could thus score 
ten more points than by passing the " one 
spade." But that would presuppose that they 
could see each other's hands, which they could 
not. If one could play results, one could always 
win out. As a matter of fact, A has but six 
no-trump tricks in his hand, and he has an 
absolute certainty of defeating the "one spade." 
To defeat that by one trick is worth 50; by two, 
ioo» That would be equal to five odd, or ten 



Test Hand No. 16 151 

odd, in no-trump ; and A has no reason to expect 
such results from his hand. And when it comes 
to B, he has but five tricks in his hand, yet he 
too has a fair chance of defeating the spade 
because he knows that both of his adversaries are 
weak. 

Although, in this instance, A-B lost ten points 
by passing, in nine cases out of ten they would 
make hy passing. And rules are formed to cover 
the majority of situations. I am sure I need not 
tell you that faulty theories will sometimes 
bring in bigger results than sound theories — 
sometimes but not generally. 

I do not fail to recognize that 30 points below 
the line are an advantage. But I insist that 
short, tight, sure rubbers, where there are no 
penalties, are always low rubbers. Your great 
chance, in Auction, is penalizing the adversary; 
and when you are playing against the best 
players you must grasp these chances when they 
come. Good players give you very few chances 
to double unsound bids and to pile up the 
hundreds by fours and fives. The average 
indifference toward seizing small penalties, and 
also toward losing small penalties, is one of the 
weak points of the average game, 



Compass Auction, Team Auction, and 
Tournament Auction 

So many inquiries about Auction tournaments 
have come to me that I have decided to devote 
a chapter to this fascinating subject. I will 
begin with Compass Auction, which is the 
groundwork of the entire structure. 

Compass Auction is played with duplicate- 
boards, by eight players at two tables. During 
each hand, the board lies in the centre of each 
table with its star to the North, and its index 
pointing to the Dealer — not to the Leader as it 
used to do in duplicate Whist. 

Each person plays his cards in front of him 
instead of onto the centre of the table, which, 
of course, is occupied by the board. Thus, at 
the close of each hand, the cards lie in four 
distinct piles in front of their owners, and are 
ready to be placed in their respective pockets. 

The players are known as North, South, East, 
and West; North plays with South, and East 
152 



Compass A"uction. 153 

with West, and it is necessary to have the tables 
so placed that the players actually sit in their 
relative positions. Thus confusion is avoided. 

No hands are arranged before the game 
begins. The first time that a board appears, 
it may hold the cards, for convenience. But 
those cards are taken out, shuffled, cut, and dealt. 
After the hand has been played, the cards of 
each player are placed in the pocket that faces 
him; and when that board appears at the next 
table, the hands are taken out separately, and 
played without further mixing or shuffling. 

The hands pass from table to table and are 
never played twice by the same persons, even 
in a different position. This is an enormous 
improvement over the old game of duplicate 
Whist where each hand appeared a second time 
before the same players. It is impossible not 
to remember unusual hands, and difficult not 
to take unconscious advantage of one's memory. 

In Compass Auction, each person is really 
playing against the person who occupies the 
same relative position at the other table. North, 
at each table, is actually playing with South, 
against the defence of East and West. But 
what he is trying to do is to defeat North at 
the other table; they are going to play exactly 
the same hands; the thing is, to see which of 



154 Fine Points of Aviction 

them can score the most, or lose the least, on 
those hands. 

Thus, if you hold a poor hand, you do not 
play it against the good hand at your own table. 
Or rather, you do so play it; but you are trying 
to lose less on it than will your adversary (at 
the other table) when he comes to hold that same 
poor hand and to play it against that same good 
one. 

On each round, each person holds out in 
front of him the card he intends to play, clearly 
exposing its face. When the four cards have 
been so shown, they are laid (face down) in 
front of their respective owners; the two cards 
of the partners who have won the trick, are laid 
lengthwise to their owners; and the two cards 
of the partners who have lost the trick, are laid 
sidewise to their owners. 

The Player instructs Dummy which card to 
lift and hold, on each round. Dummy may 
never play a card until instructed by his partner, 
— the Player. For instance. North gets the 
bid and plays the hand; East leads — a king of 
spades, which he holds out and shows. Dummy 
(South) lays down his hand which contains 
two spades — the six and the three. North 
says to him "three of spades, " and Dummy lifts 
and shows the card, until the round is finished. 



Compass Aviction 155 

He then lays it in front of him, reversed and 
crosswise (as it lost the trick), and this is 
repeated on every round. 

It is impossible to play for rubbers, because a 
difference of judgment as to bid (or double) 
on the first round might totally change the bid 
on the second. For instance, suppose you 
(being North) get the first declaration at ''a 
heart," and your adversary (the other North) 
declares "a no-trump" on the same hand when 
he plays it somewhat later. And suppose you 
each take three odd; then you have 24 and he 
has game. You would naturally be satisfied 
with a diamond declaration on the next hand 
(or a club, by the new count), as it would put 
you game. He, on the contrary, would be be- 
ginning a new game and would want a higher 
suit, that he might go rubber in the hand. So it 
is quite impossible to play for the rubber; the 
gross score on a certain number of hands is the 
best that you can do. But the game gives no 
scope for the foolish bids that one used to see in 
progressive Bridge (that awful game!), when 
players declared on their honors alone, because 
it would pay them to lose the odd trick if they 
scored simple honors. In this game, where every 
lost trick is fifty honor-points to the adversary, 
the bidding is forced to be sane. 



156 Fine Points of Auction 

As nearly as possible, the element of luck is 
eliminated — at least, as far as the cards are 
concerned. But it can never be eliminated as 
to one's partner and adversaries. If you have 
adversaries who make foolish bids and doubles, 
you are in luck. And your score will run much 
higher than it would if you should play those 
same hands against a stronger defence. Nor 
do the results always testify in favor of sound 
judgment ; a risky bidder may make thoroughly 
unsound bids which, through luck, will go 
through and show a higher score than that 
achieved by more conservative and sane bids. 
In the long run, of course, the sound bidder 
would win out; but luck might easily favor the 
plunger for two hours or more. 

Now, as to the score! If you are simply 
playing casually, you can use an ordinary score- 
card; and instead of ''We" and "They," you 
can write " N. and S. " at the head of one column, 
and "E. and W." at the head of the other. 
But this will give you no record of the bids. 
To enjojT- the game in its perfect form, you must 
have a fifth person at each table — the official 
scorer, who keeps a record of all bids. This 
scorer must be a person who understands the 
game (though not necessarily a player of the 
first order), and he will find his work thoroughly 



Compass -Aiaction 157 

interesting. As yet, there are no proper score- 
cards on the market. There will be, if the 
demand warrants it; but for the present you 
will have to make your own, which is rather a 
nuisance. This is how you should go about it: 
Get a small tablet of unlined paper and rule 
the sheets into eight vertical columns. The 
first four of these columns should be headed by 
the names of the points of the compass; the 
next two are the point-column and honor- 
column for North and South, and the last two 
are the point-column and honor-column for 
East and West. But in the twelve sheets 
that will make a complete record for twelve 
boards, there will be three in which North's 
name will head the first column (followed in 
proper order by the other compass-points); 
three in which South's name comes first; and, 
of course, three with East's name, and three with 
West's. That is because in twelve hands each 
of the four players deals and opens the bidding 
three times. Just sit with your back to the 
North, and you will see what I mean. If you 
open the bidding, the player at your left will 
have his back to the East, and will be the second 
hand; South will come third, and West fourth. 
The board that is marked No. i will have the star 
at the North and the index to the East. That 



158 



Fine Points of Aiiction 



means that East will deal and open the bidding 
on the first board; and he will do likewise on 
the fifth board and the ninth board. South will 
deal on the second, the sixth, and the tenth 
boards, and so on. 

Three of your leaves will thus read as follows : 







Table i 


; board 


I (or 5 


, or 9). 






East 


South 


West 


North 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



Three more will be like this: 

Table i ; board 2 (or 6, or lo). 



South 


West 


North 


East 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



Comp.ass A-uction 159 

The next three will read thus : 

Table i; board 3 (or 7, or 11). 



West 


North 


East 


South 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



And the remaining three, thus: 

Table i ; board 4 (or 8, or 12). 



North 


East 


South 


West 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



You will then make an exact duplicate of 
these twelve sheets, only writing "table two" 
in place of ''table one." In stringing them 
together, the "table one" sheets should have 
"board one" on top, followed in regular order 



i6o 



Fine Points of A.-uction 



by boards two, three, four, etc. The *' table 
two" sheets should be in the following order: 
board seven (on top), eight, nine, ten, eleven, 
twelve, one, two, three, four, five, six. Because, 
while one table is playing the first six hands, the 
other table will be playing the last six, and 
vice versa. 

The scorer will record each bid by a figure and 
a small letter that is the initial of the suit that 
is bid; thus, "i h." means "one heart," "2 d." 
means "two diamonds," etc. A dash ( — ) means 
" pass " ; a capital D. means double, and a capital 
R. means "redouble." The second round of 
bids will be written immediatel}^ under the first 
round, and all following rounds accordingly; 
and the results for the hand in the columns for 
points and honors. Here is a sample (East 
deals) : 









Table i 


; board 


I 






East 
ih. 


South 


West 

2h. 


North 
2 d. 


N. &S. 


E.&W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 


_ 


ad- 











200 


D. 

















Compass A.\iction i6i 

After the play of each hand, the cards are 
placed in the board. At the end of six hands, 
the boards are exchanged; and at the end of 
twelve hands, the tables are drawn together, 
the hands laid out (one at a time), and the bids 
and results compared. 

The partners who make the highest percentage 
against their adversaries at the same table,, and 
the other partners who lose the lowest percent- 
age to their adversaries at the same table, are 
the winners. It is necessary to take the per- 
centage rather than the gross score because 
sometimes the entire record runs higher at one 
table — in accordance with the bidding. For 
instance, the gross score at the first table on the 
first comparison might be: North and South 
1050, against East and West 750. And at the 
second table it might be : North and South 750, 
against East and West 300. Now the entire 
first table is higher; but North and South there 
are the losers, because their percentage against 
East and West is ^, while the percentage of 
the other North and South is ^. Therefore, 
North and South at the second table, and East 
and West at the first table, are the four winners. 

It is a more fascinating game than you can 
possibly imagine until you have tried it. It 
bears the same relation to plain Auction that a 



i62 Fine Points of Auction 

pipe organ does to a grand piano. The grand 
piano is perfect of its kind (as is Auction), and is 
all that one wants for every-day life and in the 
home. The pipe organ (like Compass Auction) 
has a wider range and special properties, and 
is delightful on big occasions. 

Team Auction is played in precisely the same 
way, by rival teams. North and South of team 
one play against East and West of team two, at 
their own table; and also against North and 
South of team two, at the other table. 

Tournament Auction is conducted on the same 
principle, all the tables in the room being ar- 
ranged in pairs of two rival tables. After the 
first comparison of results (at the end of any 
desired number of hands), the four losers at 
each two tables drop out. Thus eight tables 
resolve themselves into four, four into two, and 
two into one. And the four players at that last 
table are the winners of the tournament. 

It is much less complicated than it sounds, and 
is entirely practicable. I have tried it and 
know. During the past winter, I planned and 
conducted a small Auction tournament which I 
believe to be the first on record. It ran as 
though on greased wheels and nothing else was 
discussed for days afterward. The hands were 
left in the boards, the records of bids were 



Toxirnament Auction 163 

filed, and any one who wished might look over 
both. 

In arranging a big tournament, as at a Country 
Club, the necessary number of decks of cards 
would be so great that you would be forced to 
ask each eight persons to provide one set of 
duplicate boards and twelve decks of cards. 
And each four players that dropped out should 
carry with them six boards and six decks. In 
this way confusion would be avoided. 



The Laws of Auction Bridge 

The dealer is forced to bid. Any one else may 
pass, but he may not. 

Following the opening bid by the dealer, any 
one is free to pass, to cover the previous bid, 
or to double. 

Doubling is not bidding, but it keeps the 
bidding open. That is, after a double the bid- 
ding is open to any player to bid again in the 
same or any other suit. 

If a bid has been doubled, it counts twice as 
much as far as scoring is concerned, but remains 
at its normal value as regards subsequent bids. 
A bid of ''two diamonds," doubled, means 24 
for scoring, but only 12 as far as bidding is 
concerned, and may be covered by "two 
hearts," or any bid that exceeds 12. You raise 
the bid, not the double. 

Doubling can take place between adversaries 
only; no one may double his partner. And it 
stops at one double and one redouble; no one 
may double further than that. 
164 



TKe I^a^ws of Axiction Bridge 165 

''Raising the bid" is making a bid whose 
numerical value exceeds the previous bid, 
or bringing it to the same numerical value but 
with more tricks in it. Thus "a no-trump" is 
12; "two diamonds" are twelve, and will beat 
it; "three clubs" are twelve, and will make a 
still higher bid. 

The bid is open until three successive players 
have passed. 

When the bidding is closed, the hand is played 
by the person who has made the highest bid, 
unless the suit which stands as final was first 
named by his partner. Between two partners, 
the one who first named the final suit plays the 
hand; between two adversaries, the one who 
last named the final suit plays the hand. 

The leader is the person who sits on the 
player's left. Should the wrong adversary lead, 
the player may demand that he take back his 
card and may call a suit from the proper leader. 

Should any one bid or double out of turn, 
either adversary may call for a new deal. 

The deal passes around the table regularly, 
from each player to the adversary on his left, 
irrespective of the play. 

The "still pack" should be made by the part- 
ner of the dealer, and placed at his own right 
hand. The player finding it at his own left 



1 66 Fine Points of Axiction 

hand is the next dealer. He must pick up the 
pack, have it cut on his right, and proceed to 
deal to his left. 

The loss at a "one spade " bid is limited to lOO. 

If a player underbids his hand, he may score 
everything over his bid that he takes. If he 
overbids his hand, he may score nothing; the 
adversaries score 50 above the line for every 
trick that he bid and failed to take. 

The adversaries can never score below the 
line. They score above the line, fifty for every 
trick that the player has bid and failed to take — 
regardless of suit. 

No one can score below the line except the 
player; and he only if he takes all that he bid, 
or more. 

The game is 30 points below the line. 

The rubber- value is 250 points above the line. 

Either side may score the honors they hold. 

If a bid has been doubled and is defeated, the 
adversaries score 100 above the line for every 
trick for which the player has contracted and 
failed to take; if the bid has been redoubled, 
they score 200 above the line for each similar 
trick. 

If a player succeeds in keeping his contract in 
spite of a double, he gets his tricks at a doubled 
value, and a bonus of 50 points (above the 



XHe L.a'ws of Auction Bridge 167 

line) for keeping his contract; and if he takes 
any tricks over his contract, they are worth 
their doubled value below the line, and 50 
apiece above. If there has been redoubling, 
all tricks are raised to four times their normal 
value, the bonus to 100, and each extra trick to 
100. 

If the player revoke, the adversaries take 150 
above the line. If either adversary revoke, the 
player may take either 150 points above the 
line, or the value of three tricks below the line. 
The side that revokes can score nothing on the 
hand, except what honors they may chance to 
hold. A revoke should not be claimed until 
the hand is finished. A slam can never be 
scored on the revoke penalty. 

A touched card in Dummy may be called by 
either adversary; unless, immediately before 
touching it, the player has said "I arrange." 

An exposed card may be called by either 
adversary (except Dummy) who can name its 
face. No one, however, can be forced to revoke 
with an exposed card. 

If the player throw down his remaining cards 
claiming the balance of the tricks, and if there 
be doubt as to his taking them, he can be forced 
to pick up his cards and play out the hand, hut 
none of the cards so exposed may be called by the 



i68 Fine Points of Axiction 

adversary, as the player has no partner who can 
be advantaged by their exposure. If either 
adversary, however, thus expose his cards and 
claim the balance of the tricks, the player may 
force him to pick up his hand, and may call any 
of the exposed cards that he can name. 

If any player make a bid insufficient to cover 
the preceding bid, and if the error be discovered 
before the next player has passed, doubled, or 
bid, the faulty bidder is forced to bid (in the 
suit he has named) enough to cover the previous 
bid: and, further, if the following adversary 
should pass, the partner of the faulty bidder is 
debarred from bidding. If, however, the adver- 
sary should hid or double, the partner of the 
faulty bidder is free to make any bid or double 
that he may wish. 

Attention to a faulty bid may be called by 
either adversary. 

If a faulty bid be not discovered until after the 
following adversary has passed, doubled, or bid, 
it stands as good. 

The final bid may be asked at any point of the 
game; but no player may ask information con- 
cerning any previous bid. 



The Revoke 

The penalty for a revoke, in Auction, is very- 
severe. Should the player revoke, the adver- 
saries take 150 points above the line (for they 
are unable, of course, to score below when they 
have not the bid). Should either adversary 
revoke, the player may take 150 points above, 
or the value of three tricks below. (If he is 
playing a diamond hand, then three tricks 
below would be but 18 points and he would 
naturally choose the 150, unless he is already 
12 on the game and the 18 points would put him 
game or rubber.) But (and this is where the 
severity of the punishment is shown) the re- 
voking party can score nothing on the hand except 
the honors he may chance to hold. Suppose he 
has bid "two no-trump" and takes five odd, 
but revokes; after paying three tricks he would 
still be able to keep his contract. This, how- 
ever, is denied him. He can score nothing but 
honors. 

There is a story told of one of the great players 
169 



170 Fine Points of i\-uctio]:i 

who revoked purposely, in plain Bridge, because 
he saw it would still benefit him after paying 
the penalty. No such situation could arise in 
Auction — the revoke penalty is too extreme for 
that. 



Other Penalties 

If the wrong adversary should lead, the player 
may call a suit. Suppose the bid has gone 
round several times and you finally secure the 
make, every one else having passed after your 
last bid. No matter who dealt, if you are to 
play the hand, the adversary on your left should 
lead. There must be no conversation as to 
whose lead it is, the adversaries should know. 
And if the wrong one (the one on your right) 
should make a lead, you can immediately ask 
him to take back his card and can call a suit 
from the proper leader, — forcing him to lead up 
to your ten-ace suits, your strength, your trumps, 
or whatever you may prefer. This gives you 
a tremendous advantage, and after the penalty 
has been exacted a few times, players are much 
more careful about leading out of turn. 

Should any one bid or double out of turn, 
either adversary may call for a new deal. 

Other penalties are the same as in plain Bridge. 
An exposed card may always be called by any 
171 



172 Fine Points of A"uction 

one (other than Dummy) who can call it by 
name (except to force its holder to revoke with 
it) ; and a touched card in Dummy should always 
be a played card. 



m ^s 



1912 



